Her saving Grace
by Stefani.Marie09
Summary: After watching her husband of six years and her best friend for even longer get taken down by a large group of walkers, twenty-eight year old Lacey Anderson is forced to run away from everything she has ever known and away from the man she has ever really loved. Being pregnant and on the run from walkers isn't the easiest thing to do, but a prison may be her saving Grace.
1. chapter 1

**Day 309, after outbreak**

" _RUN! RUN! LACEY, RUN!!"_

Those were the last words I ever heard from my husband, right before a mass of walkers tore into him. It was all I could hear as I ran from him. I had managed to grab our bags as I ran through the trees, dodging walkers as I went. We had just found out that I was roughly three months pregnant yesterday thanks to a pregnancy test we had found. We had been so happy but yet so scared at the same time. In this world though, happiness is short lived. We had to make a run for it as a group of walkers chased us away from our little hiding place.

 _Run! Run Lacey! Keep running!!_

We had thought we lost the group of walkers, so we took a break to get water and a quick bite of food before looking for shelter but that was short lived. A walker, that was completely silent, snuck up behind Brandon and bit into his shoulder before tearing a chunk from it. Without hesitation I quickly shot it in the head and Dove toward Brandon. I grabbed a towel from my bag to help clot the bleeding but I knew in the end it wouldn't do any good. We found a house to hunker down in but before we could make it to the house, the herd had caught up to us and I knew things were about to become difficult. I vaguely remember that words that Brandon had said to me, honestly I think his words had shocked me so much that I spaced out. I know he told me he loved me and that he would always love me, then he was telling me to run before gently pushing me away. Telling me to stay safe for myself and the baby, before he pulled his side arm from it's holster and creating a distraction, so I could get away.

 _Run!! Keep running, gotta keep going Lacey. Just a little bit longer_

Getting away and staying safe is exactly what I did. I managed to lose the walkers and find a place that was walker free. I barricaded myself in the abandoned Piggly wiggly before breaking down into hysterics in the backroom. I must have cried for hours before passing out. I was able to stay there for just under a week before I decided to move on. The store was relatively untouched. so when I decided to leave, I managed to find a two door Honda Civic that had a full tank of gas and load it up with enough to last me a month or longer if I stretched it out.

 _ARRRGGHHH!!!! Keep going!!! Almost there_.

I wasn't sure how long I had been traveling for before I came across my first road block full of abandoned cars. Thankfully there was a water truck that was still stocked with the large jugs for like offices and businesses. I couldn't believe that it hadn't been found. I looked like maybe a few were missing but that was it. I was quick to grab a few since clean water was hard to come by now and days before making my way around the jam, but no before seeing a sign for someone names 'Sophia' faintly written on the windshield in white paint. I remember thinking that I hope they had found Sophia.

That was seven and a half months ago.

After spending several months moving from place to place, I came across a super walmart in Newnan and was able to hunker down. With my large belly being my biggest concern, I was thankful that there was only a handful of walkers. Most of the food had been taken a while ago, but I was able to find some in the back, along with a couple dozen cases of water. I was actually able to use some of the water and other items in the store to wash myself. I had used a large tote as a makeshift bathtub and grabbed toiletries from the hygiene area. Was the first time in over a month that I was actually clean and shaved without any tangles in my hair. After I was able to cook some noodles that I found in the back and even found some vitamins.

While staying there, I set up my own little living area in the back of the store where the employees would have went on break. Blew up an air mattress with a bike pump, had blankets, pillows, stored all the food in there so I wouldn't have to leave unless it was other use the bathroom. I had even browsed the clothing and shoe department to replace the old ones that I had. The one area that was the hardest was the baby section. I didn't know what I was having but I had decided to grab some things since I knew I was getting close to giving birth. Clothes, diapers, wipes, binkies, baby carrier and so much more. I even kept some basic stuff in my duffle in case I had to leave here.

Which, unfortunately I did.

 ** _OHMYGOOOSSSHHHH!!!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! KEEP GOING LACEY, DAMN IT. DO NOT STOP!!_**

That brings me to my current situation.

I am roughly thirty-nine weeks pregnant, running through the woods away from the largest herd I had ever seen. Away from the safety of the Walmart breakroom…. Oh yeah, did I mention that I was in labor???

*A/N...so what do you think so far? This is my first TWD story so i am hoping that it will turn out to be really good. Let me know what you think so far, i love reading the reviews and comments. But please keep the bashing and negative comments to yourself. I already know there are a lot of grammar issues and stuff like that but oh well, nobody is perfect. Also this will be a Rick/OC eventually. Not everything is going to go along with the show but there will be a lot in there that does.*


	2. chapter 2

Even as my body is gripped with contractions, I have to keep running no matter what.

 _Keep going Lacey, almost safe. Come on baby. Don't stop._

Brandon's voice keeps telling me to go, almost as if he was right next to me. The growls from the dead start to fade away, but I keep going till I can't hear them any longer. I stop and lean against a tree to catch my breath before a really strong contractions rails through me. Quickly covering my mouth to keep from screaming, I try to remember to breath through it. As it starts to subside, I gasp a couple of deep breaths as I hear the all familiar sound of a walker. It's a woman, well what used to be a woman. She's wearing a night gown that has been covered in gunk and grime that has made its way onto it from the last several months. It's left arm is completely missing and the right one is so mangled that it looks like it would fall off any second. Right as she notices me, I grip my knife in my hand and slowly prepare to shove it through her skull. Just as she makes it within two feet of me, a long blade is shoved through the front of her skull from the back splattering blood onto my shirt and face. I wipe it off as the walker starts to fall revealing a woman holding the sword. Feeling slightly intimidated I take a defensive pose and raise my knife out in front of me. "Please, I don't want any trouble. I'm thankful for what you did but please don't hurt me." I beg moving back a few feet. She just stands there looking at me for a second and looks around. "There is a large group of walkers following me, we can't stand here."

"They turned east a few miles back." She grunts bending down to pick up a small red basket that was on the ground next to her. I give her a once over and realize she is covered in blood that is black and chunky. As she stands back up, she grabs her left thigh, which I see is bleeding.

"Are you bit?" I ask backing away even further.

"Gun shot." She grunts before turning away and starts to head West. I want it follow, but the strongest contraction I have had yet, causes me to double over and cry out. Ok try to grip the tree to keep from falling over. "Whats wrong?" I look up to see that she has stopped and was looking at me.

"Im in labor. Been having con-contractions…for the l-aaaaaah-…last thirty minutes. They started when I started running from the herd." I grunted as the contraction continues to render my body with pain. I feel arms wrapped around me and jerk a little.

"its ok. We need to get you out of here. I was heading toward a prison I heard about. From what I heard, there are people there and it's secure." The mysterious sword wilding woman says. "do you thing you can walk?"

"I don't think I have much of a choice, do I?" I try to joke.

"not really. Here, hold this while I support you." She hands me the basket she was carrying before wrapping he left arm around my back under my bag to try and hold me up.

"are you ok to do that? You did get shot not to long ago from the looks of it." We look down at her leg that is slowly bleeding onto her dark pants.

"ill be fine. Let's go." We start to make our way toward where this suspected prison was. As we make out way there, I happen to glance at the basket and realize there was some baby toys and a can of formula in it.

"Formula?"

"a couple had it before they were taken by the redneck who shot me. Heard about the prison from them before they left." She says looking around for walkers. We quickly but quietly make our way West, toward where I hope this prison really is. Being so much closer to her now, I realize that he blood that she is covered in is absolutely disgusting.

"please don't take offense to this, but you smell so bad." I laugh lightly to let her know I mean it in a joking way. She's quiet for a minute before snickering.

"Thanks, I know it's awful, but it's kept the walkers away. Guess it's because I smell like one of them and not an appetizer."

"Makes sense, wish I would have thought of that a long time ago." I laugh out loud. Haven't don't that in a while and it feels nice. "im Lacey by the way."

"Michonne."

"nice to meet you." We pause to step over a large fallen tree, which she helps me over so I don't fall. "thanks for this by the way. It's been a long time since I have come across another living person." She just grunts quietly instead of replying. We walk for a few more feet before another contraction hits. I'm thankful she is there to help me through it.

"Breath in through your nose and out your mouth. Do you have any water? You need to stay hydrated. Especially with how much you are sweating." I am unable to answer right away so I shake my head no. "ok, keep breathing." We stand there for a few more minutes before it passes. "better?"

"yes, for now anyway. I think we need to book it double time. Well as fast as a bullet would victim and a heavily pregnant woman can."

"ok, let's go. I think we are almost there." God I hope she is right. And she was. Ten minutes later, we broke through the trees only to walk into an open area that is swallowed in sunlight. Across the field is a metal fence surrounding a group of building which has to be the prison. There is a gravel road that leads to a tall fence gate with a guard tower right on the other side.

"Michonne, I can't wait to much longer." I whisper through clenched teeth. She nods and sits me down on a fallen tree. Then pulls her sword out before quickly going to work on disposing of the walkers that have noticed us. While she does that, I look up toward the prison to see a small group of people walkling out into the court yard. They walk for a minute before a man in a dark blue plaid shirt looks out way. "michonne." I whisper getting her attention. She looks at me and I point toward the group, where the man is looking at us. She quickly pulls me up after I grab the baker and we start to make our way toward the fence as he starts to head our way. Just as we make it to the fence, I see him pulling his gun out of its holster and stare at us.

"grab the fence real quick." Michonne whispers. I keep my eye on the man as I hear he start taking down the walkers that are too close. He looks at me as he comes to a stop. Another contraction hits and I cry out, drawing attention from some walkers.

"help…please." I whisper to him as tears leave my eyes. I look to my right and see a boy with a sheriff's hat on probably around the age of nine or ten, watching Michonne.

"should we help her?" he asks the man in front of me. He looks away from me to the boy then to Michonne and then back to me. Before walking away.

*A/N: Well there is chapter 2. As i said before, it will mostly go along with TWD story line but there will also be some sense that my OC is put into. Also, let me know what you think so far. I am currently looking into finding someone that my OC kinda resembles but havent really found anything as of yet. As soon as find someone i will put in an A/N*


	3. chapter 3

"No! Please, don't leave us!" I cry heading over toward the gate where the boy is standing. "Please. Please don't leave us out here, im about to have a baby. Please." I beg looking at him. Before he can reply, I heard a soft thud from behind me and look to see that Michonne has collapsed onto her back before passing out. "Michonne." I quickly grab my gun from my holster and start shooting the walkers that are to close to her. Another contraction hits me and It knocks the wind out of me. I hear two loud pops from next to me and I look to see the boy holding a gun up with it pointed behind me.

"Carl!" the man yells. The boy, Carl, looks over to him and tosses him some keys. "Shit." He grumbles as he unlocks the gate and pushes it open. As soon as he is through the gate, he starts shooting the walkers that have moved into the area. Carl comes out and he starts taking out walkers at well before coming over to me and grabbing the basket I had dropped before moving away a few feet.

"Is she bit?" another man appears that I hadn't noticed before now. He reminds me of Colonel Sanders with the white hair and white facial hair. I also notice that he is also missing a leg and has crutches.

"No, gun shot wound." I reply grabbing his attention. A quiet feminine gasp comes from behind him before a young blonde appears. I see the man from before hurl Michonne over his shoulder like a sack of flour before the blonde rushes to me.

"Are you bit?" she asks hesitantly.

"No…just in labor." I grunt holding my belly. I look down and notice that she is holding a newborn baby that is swaddled in a tiny pink blanket which leads me to believe that it's a little girl.

"Let's get you inside hungry, Beth here will help you if you need it. I'm Hershel by the way."

"Im Lacey, that's Michonne." I smile before Beth gently takes my elbow to lead me inside. As we make our way in, the little girl whimpers and draws my attention. "She's precious." I smile at the bundle. Beth just smiles. I'm not sure if it's he daughter but she seems awfully young to have a newborn baby, but with this world I guess that doesn't matter anymore.

"Carl, get a blanket. Beth, water and a towel." The Man helping Michonne says. He lays he on the blanket on the ground as Beth helps me to a table in the middle of the room. She grabs what he needs and hands it to him which he quickly pours onto Michonne. She starts to stir and is disoriented from what I can tell. She starts to freak out and reach for her sword but it's quickly pushed out of her reach by the man. "We're not gonna hurt you, unless you try something stupid first. Alright?"

"Rick." I look over to where the deep voice came from and saw the man walk out of the cell block. He was really rugged looking but who wasn't now and days. "Who the hell is this?" he asks making his way over. Before Rick, who I assume was the man by Michonne could answer, I answered for him.

"That's Michonne and I'm Lacey and I would very much like to have this baby now!" I yell as another strong contractions rocks through me, making me bang my hand on the metal table top. Hershel and Beth helps me up.

"Ya'll will wanna see this." The New man said walking into the cell block again.

"Go on ahead and find Lacey a cell. Her friend though can stay here for now." Rick says grabbing her sword before following the three of us with Carl by his side. Hershel and Beth lead me into an empty cell at the end.

"You get comfortable dear, I will be right back." Hershel says before he and Beth disappear. Right after they leave, Carl comes in and places my bag down on the floor against the wall across from the bed.

"Thank you. Carl, right?" he looks at me and nods before eyeballing my belly then walks out. I sigh and start to fan myself as I start to become over heated. I manage to take my three layers of till I am down to sports bra, feeling instantly relief from the heat as the cool are of the cell wraps around me. I can hear the sound of joy coming from a few cells down from mine as a reunion of sorts takes place. I smile before sighing and try to take my boots off but as I bend down to untie my boots, I feel a sudden gush like I just peed myself. "oh shit." I gasp. It's not even ten seconds later before I a gripping ahold of the top bunk frame, bending over while holding my belly and crying out. I hear several sets of feet rush toward me and look up to see just about everyone I had just met standing there including an older woman with gray pixie cut hair. "My water broke." I cry, tears running down my face.

"Oh my gosh." The older woman gasps rushing over to me.

"Beth, I need you to grab some supplies for me. I need water, soap, towels, string and scissors. Daryl, can you grab a couple extra pillows and place them with the other one so she will be comfortable?" I don't hear a reply as both people rush out. "Carol, are you feeling ok enough to help me out?" he asks.

"Yes, I'm fine." The woman standing next to me smiles.

"ok, Rick…I need you to help her get undressed and onto the bed." Rick starts to protest but Hershel cuts him off. "No time to start acting like a sixteen year old boy that's never seen a naked woman before, just help her out of her shoes and pants." If I wasn't in so much pain I might have laughed but I was too busy focusing on not passing out. Carol had moved away from me to clean up but Rick stands next to me.

"Sorry 'bout this." He whispers. I look over at him and softly laughs.

"First time I have ever had a guy get me out of my pants without at least dinner first." I joke trying to lighten the mood so he doesn't feel as awkward. Which seems to work as he quietly laughs before bending down to remove my boots the rest of the way then gently pulling my yoga pants and my underwear down my legs and off. As he stands back up I manage to get a better look at him and I am quite impressed. He is really handsome. Maybe in is late thirties, curly slicked back hair, beautiful blue eyes a- "AAHHHH!!! Shit, shit, shit….I gotta push. I can't wait." I cry.

"Got the pillows!" Daryl says rushing back in the room and placing them at the head of the bed. He notices me standing there in just my sports bra and turns red before adverting his eyes and leaving the cell. Hershel and Carol finish washing up with the help of Beth and get ready.

"Lets get you laid down Lacey." Rick says helping me sit on the edge of the bottom bunk before grabbing my legs and swinging them up, successfully laying me propped up on the pillows behind me. As soon as I'm in the somewhat horizontal position, I become extremely dizzy and black out for a split second. Everything becomes a surreal and has like a dream like haze around the outer part of my vision. The room starts to spin as I feel my legs being pushed apart and toward me. I can't focus on who is in the room with me, but I know I have grabbed a strong male hand in my right one. I vaguely hear Hershel giving me orders to start pushing with my contractions and Carol encouraging me along as I struggle to stay conscious.

' _Push baby, don't give up. You need to stay awake my beautiful Lacey.'_

A familiar voice echoes in my ear as I take a deep breath after pushing. I'm extremely light headed as my head falls to the right and I see where the voice came from. "Brandon?" I whisper, recognizing my husband's deep southern drawl. Suddenly, like a dream, I look over to see Brandon kneeling down next to the side of the bed, gripping my hand. "oh Brandon. I'm so sorry." I cry gripping his hand tighter.

 _"you don't need to be sorry for anything beautiful."_ He smiles.

 ** _'One more big push Lacey, come on._** ' I faintly hear Carol.

" _Quit being so stubborn and push baby. It's time to meet our little one."_

"I can't do this. I can't do this without you my love. I need you here." I sob.

' ** _She's hallucinating, Rick. Tell her to push.'_**

 _"I am right here baby. Now push. Come on._ " He says before kissing my sweat covered forehead. I close my eyes at the contact, but when open my eyes…he is gone and Rick is next to me.

"Lacey, you need to push. One more big push and your little one will be here." He encourages squeezing my hand. When did that happen? I start to sob as soon as I realize that Brandon hadn't actually been there, it wasn't real. As the next contraction grips my lower half, I barely down with everything I have left in me. There is a massive burning down there before a sudden rush of my child and fluid leaves me. I cry out at the relief and fall back against the pillows, still holding Rick's hand for a second before letting go.

"it's a girl Lacey. You had a girl." Carol cheers down by my feet. She and Beth are cleaning her up while Hershel takes care of everything going on down there with my body. I look at Rick and smile softly, getting one in return before he heads out to the main area. "Here you go momma." Carol smiles before handing her to me. She is wrapped in a bundle of towels and just a screaming until she is in my arms.

"Oh, she is perfect. Hey, hey now. It's ok my love. Everything is alright. Everything is perfect, my little Lily pad. " I coo at her, allowing her to grasp my finger in her strong grip.

After I everything is cleaned up, myself included, I am left alone with my daughter as she falls asleep after successfully feeding from my breast. I lean my head back and can't help but smile. "She's here Brandon, I did it." I look down at her and kiss her soft head of hair before drifting off with her safely tucked into my chest.

 ***A/N,** YAAAY!!!! a second baby has been safetly brought into the zombie apocalypse. I was gonna make it a boy but i figured it would be easier if Judith and Lily could just share clothes since they were born a day or two apart from each other. I have been trying to decide on a part for the next chapter, but im not sure if i wanna put it in or not. I was thinking about having Judith's tummy be sensitive to formula and when she had a bottle it upsets her tummy, so Hershel asks Lacey if should could possibly squeeze some milk into a bottle for her since Lily favors her right breast and her left one is extremely engorged. Not sure if i wanna go that path or not. Also in case you didnt realize it. The parts where she is giving birth and show up _like this, is her "dream" of Brandon._ The parts that show up **_like this, is the group in the prison._**

Please leave your comments in the review section and let me know what you think about the whole Judith breastfeeding from Lacey along with Lily. xxx*


	4. chapter 4

I don't know how long I was asleep for but the sound of a baby crying jerked me from my sleep. Raising my head I look down next to me and see that Lily is still asleep after he feeding that was probably an hour ago. Looking around my cell I realize that there is a small lantern lit in the corner on top of an overturned milk crate. I look out as I see a figure passing and I see Beth with a crying Judith pacing. "Psst." I call getting her attention. She looks over at me and slowly makes her way over.

"Sorry if we woke you." She whispers while she continues to bouncer and pat Judith's back.

"She ok?" I ask sitting up slowly as to not wake Lily.

"im not sure. I've tried everything I can think of to calm her down but she won't stop. Carol said that sometimes babies just need to cry. Rick can usually calm her down quickly along with Daryl but they along with your friend just left about an hour ago.

"What do you mean they left? Where did they take Michonne?" I ask. Even though I had only known Michonne for a couple hours, I owed he my life. If it hadn't been for her, I never would have made it out of them woods.

"They wet to a town called Woodbury. A couple of our people were taken there while on a supply run for Judith. It was actually my sister Maggie and he boyfriend Glenn., but Michonne said she could help us get in and get them back." She explains.

"How do they know they are there?" I mean cause they could literally be anywhere by now.

"Michonne said the guy that took them was from there, she was also running from him when he shot her. She assumed he would make them go back there." That did make sense. Lily starts to whimper from beside me and moves around a bit. "oh I'm sorry." Beth apologizes.

"For what? It's perfectly fine." I smile at her while I pick up Lily. "Would you mind handing me that bag next to you?" I ask pointing to my bag at her foot. She grabs it and hands it to me. I quickly unzip it and look through it for the pacifiers that I had found and put in here.

"Holy crap! Where did you get tall of that?" she asks taking in all of the baby supplies. This bag was filled to the brim of baby clothes, Binky's, wipes, and a few other things.

"oh, there is a super Walmart that is about thirty minutes north of here. It's where I was before I got pushed away from it by a group of walkers. Was mostly untouched when I managed to get in. don't imagine many people needing to take baby clothes so I got lucky. Most of the food shelves were bare But I found a bunch of it in the back along with a couple dozen cases of water. I was able to secure the break room and bring everything useable into it. If you guys are able to get there, I can show you were everything is." I explain while giving Lily a pacifier and handing the other one to Beth for Judith.

"I'll bring it up to Rick when he and the others get back." She sighs as Judith goes quiet as soon as the pacifier is in her mouth. She sits next to me and the room is quiet. We just sit there enjoying each other's company. When Lily is back to sleep, I grab the pack of wipes that I managed to warm up with my body heat while we were asleep and I start to clean her off.

"She looks so much like my husband." I smile sadly before changing her diaper and slipping a pink sleeper onto her as she slept.

"What happened to him?" a new voice asks. I look up toward the doorway and see Carol leaning against it.

"Um…about seven months ago we were staying in an apartment building just west of Atlanta. A group of about sixty or so walkers snuck up on us while we were looking for a car to take to drive. He was bit while trying to get a walker that had a hold of me away." I pause to clear my throat and wipe the tear that slid down my cheek. "we had just found out that day that we were gonna have this beautiful girl. It was the best day ever since everything fell apart, but it was like a blink of an eye and it turned into the worst. We managed to get away at first but he started to slow down and kept getting dizzy. He had lost so much blood that he was white as a ghost. I will never be able to forget that look of sheer panic and fear that he had on his face. I had never ever seen that look before and it terrified me." I was openly crying now.

"you don't have to tell us anymore if you don't want to." Carol whispered crouching in front of me.

"its ok, it feels nice to be able to about it. Haven't had anyone to talk to since I lost Brandon." I sniffed wiping my eyes.

"Was that your husband's name?" Beth asks turning carefully so she didn't wake Judith.

"Yeah, it was." I smiled laying Lily down on the bed. "We ended up in the woods and we had stripped his bag and shirt off so we could dress the wound…try and slow the bleeding with the last of the gauze that we had. He started talking about how much he loves me, about the baby and talking about the last almost twelve years that we have known each other, our six years of marriage, just stuff people talk about when they are dying. He couldn't walk no more so I took his duffle bag and sat him against a tree. He kept rubbing his hand across my belly and making me promise that I would keep fighting. Said I knew how to survive, he trained me. Said he didn't waste all those hours of training me like how they did in the academy, only for me to give up and not use that knowledge." I laugh softly thinking about all the complaining I did all those training sessions.

"Academy? Was he a cop?" asked Beth.

"Yep, the youngest deputy chief that the Athens Police Department has ever had. I was so damn proud of him when he got that promotion. We didn't even see it coming but the whole station voted for him. He had always wanted to be a cop and was a senior cadet our senior year of high school." I will never forget how he looked while he was wearing his uniform. He was always laid back and goofy but also very serious at the same time. He treated every person with the same respect, even if he was arresting them. He always felt bad about having to be rough and harsh with someone but it was what he had to do.

"Rick was a sheriff's deputy before all this." Carol smiled. That explains where Carl got the hat from.

"Anyway, the walkers had managed to catch up to us in the woods. I took down as many as I could and tried to keep them away from Brandon but there were just too many for me to handle. I don't know where he got the strength but Brandon had stood up and started yelling at them, grabbing their attention. I tried to ask what the hell he was doing but all he said was for me to run and that he loved me. I didn't want to leave him but I knew if I didn't I wouldn't have made it. I remember grabbing our bags and running as fast as I could. I can still hear his screams as they took him down. After that I just kept going from place to place. Only staying long enough to rest up and gather a few supplies." The silent that followed was almost deafening.

"I lost my daughter last year. He name was Sophia. She got separated from us when a herd came through the stretch of highway that we were on. We didn't find her until it was too late." Hearing that brought back a memory that I hadn't thought of since I had seen it.

"Was that sign on the yellow mustard from you?"

"Yeah, that was were we lost her. We ended up meeting Beth, Hershel and Maggie the next back. Carl was accidently shot by one of their people while he was hunting. We left the highway but left that sign when we went to the farm."

"Seems like everyone has lost someone that they care about." I whisper looking at my socked feet. We all remain silent for a while with me standing against the wall. By this time my breasts had started to get heavy and full as it got closer to the time for Lily to eat, but my left on was especially sore and full. As my arm accidently rubs against it, Carol notices me wince at the slight pain.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, my breasts are just tender. For some reason Lily doesn't like to feed from my left one and I've tried to express the milk with my hands but it just doesn't come out like it would if she were suckling from it." Right about that time both Lily and Judith start to whimper from their sleeping spots. "Guess it's feeding time." I smile taking Lily into my arms as Carol hands he to me. Beth gets up after handing Judith of to Carol and goes to get her a bottle. "will it be ok to feed her in front of you? I don't have anything to cover up with right now."

"I think your boob is that last thing we have to worry about." She smiles. "we will just have to find something if you want for when you are outside or something."

"Yes, don't think I wanna scar poor Carl for life with that image." We laugh as Beth walks back in with a bottle for Judith. I uncover myself and bring Lily up to my breast and she latches on right away. I look back up to say something to Carol but I see a man in a grey jumpsuit that I have never met before, just standing there staring at me. "Um can I help you?" I ask leaning back to try and cover myself as much as I can with Carols body.

"Axel!" Carol yells making him jump.

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare. Its just been a long time since I saw a pretty woman, hell let alone any woman. Just lonely I guess." Axel said.

"Well you are gonna keep being lonely. Now quit staring and go on." Carol snapped making the man disappear. "Sorry about him. He was here when we found the place. He was locked in the kitchen with four other inmates. He is harmless though. He was originally locked up for robbing a gas station with a toy water pistol. Idiot thought it was a good idea. Cops only arrested him because he had some type of pharmaceutical on him." She explained before turning he attention to Judith. "ok pretty girl. Open up." She cooed trying to get the nipple of the bottle into her mouth. After trying for a few minutes and Judith still refusing to take the bottle, I suddenly remember about a chapter in a book I read when Brandon and I first started trying to get pregnant a few years ago.

"I once read that when babies who are bottle feed start rejecting it, it might have to do with the formula or milk. It could be causing her to get a tummy ache. My friends niece was sensitive to formula when she was a baby and since he sister wasn't producing enough milk to keep up with her they had to get help from milk bank."

"that's a thing?" Beth asked.

"Yeah. I know you all just met me and hardly know me, but if you would allow me to, I'd like to try feeding her. See if that works." I offer. They both looked at each other and I could understand the apprehension.

"What could it hurt? We wouldn't have to look for formula." Beth said.

"What if Rick sees and gets mad." Carol says. "She is his daughter."

"Well if he gets mad, just say that you guys found me with her and she was already feeding. I'll take the full blame for it all." After a few minutes they nod and Carol sets down the bottle. Beth gets the pillows to place under the babies so it is easier for me to hold them before Carol places Judith on the pillows near my left breast. I pull my bra all the way of and help Judith latch on which she does rather quickly. She immediately starts sucking and going to town.

"well, I guess that solves the feeding issue we have been having." Beth laughs. We sit there and watch the girls for a while before Carol leaves to start making dinner after she checks in with Hershel and Carl. Beth sits next to me and tries to cover up a yawn.

"Why don't you go take a break while she is preoccupied?" I offer.

"Are you sure? She might get fussy or something."

"Its fine. Go. See your dad, eat, shower, lay down or whatever you want. I think after this she might sleep more." She smiles at me before standing up.

"Thank you." Then she's gone. Soon after both girls are full and sound asleep. I gently place them on the bed best to each other with their heads toward the wall and make sure they aren't gong anywhere before walking out to the main area right outside the call. Im actually able to get a look around since I didn't get a chance to yesterday. It's pretty dark except for the lantern that are lit creating the light and the little bit of moon light that is shining through the windows that were right up. I look back in on the girls before heading over to Carol who is staring what look like beans in a pot over a camping stove .

"Hungry?" she asks grabbing a bowl.

"Starving." I reply as my stomach growls. "haven't eaten much since before I got here."

"it's not much, but it's more than nothing." She speaks the truth. She pours some into the bowl and hands it to me along with a spoon. I watch as she pours more into a few other bowls but frown down at mine. She has given me more than everyone else.

"Carol, you gave me too much. I'm sure everyone else is just as hungry as I am." I try to hand the bowl back to her but she shakes her head.

"You are feeding two babies who are going to try and suck the energy out of you through your boobs. I think we can spare an extra spoon full so you can take care of them." She replies.

"Fine, but I will only agree to the extras every other day." I smile pointing my spoon at her. She was really easy to get along with, kinda reminded me of my mom.

"Deal." She smirks before adding another little spoon full to my bowl. I glare at her before returning to my cell before she can add any more. After eating the beans, I chug half my bottle of water and decide to lay back down for a bit after I using the bathroom. I manage to shift the girls over enough to make room for me to lay down. Wrapping Lily hand around my finger, I fall asleep too their quiet snores.


	5. chapter 5

"You can't just leave us here! OPEN THE DOOR!!" I jump awake from an unknown female voice screaming. I look at the girls, who are still asleep thankfully, before getting up and step out into the main common area to see Hershel, Beth and Carl standing near the bar doors which are closed. I step closer to see an African American woman holding a bloody shovel. Behind her there is a large man trying to get her to calm down.

"SASHA!" his deep voice makes me jump slightly as he grabs the woman's attention. They step back a few feet and he starts whispering furiously to her. I quietly make my way over to stand just behind Carl and Beth while the two newcomers talk.

"Who are they?" I ask crossing my arms over my sports bra covered chest.

"Don't know yet. Carl found them in the tombs a little bit ago. Brought them here and locked them in there." Beth whispered as the large man looked over toward us.

"We don't want any trouble." He said before they walked away.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Beth asked looking at Carl.

"I did." Was his reply before he looked at her.

"What happened?" I asked as the three of us walked away from the door over toward Hershel who was standing in the door way of his cell, leaning on his crutches. I haven't found out what happened to him yet.

"We heard something earlier and I went to look. I would them in the boiler room fighting of walkers. One of their own was bit and didn't make it here. There are two others in there. I guess father and son." Carl explained, I nodded my head before turning to Hershel.

"How you feeling dear?" he asked smiling at me.

"Im feeling alright. A little tender in some places, more than others. The girls are feeding machines." I was informed earlier when the girls woke for a feeding that Carol had explained to Hershel and Carl about Judith and her possible sensitivity to the formula and that I offered to take care of her. She said Carl was a little hesitant at first but finally came to understand that it might have been the only way to help Judith and the possibility of finding a formula that she could handle was twice as hard now that supplies were hard to come by. Hershel smiled and nodded in understanding.

"It's a really nice thing you are doing for Judith. You didn't have to do that but we are grateful you have. Even if you just met us." Carl whispered.

"Well I for one couldn't let her go hungry. It's the human thing to do." I smile at him before he nods gently and walks away to what I assume was the cell he was sleeping in.

"Beth here told us that there is a Walmart not far from here that you were staying in?" Hershel asked.

"Oh yes. I was there for about a week maybe, possibly longer. The food on the shelves was pretty picked through but I found a bunch in the back along with a couple dozen cases of water. Pretty much everything else was untouched for the most part. I took as much as I could to the room I was staying in. I figured when the rest of the group got back, I could take them to it. There is a door that is just across from the room I was staying in. Figured if the cars were parked right out the door, it would be easier to load the stuff, possibly have it done in just a few trips. There is really everything you can think of mostly. Clothes, hygiene stuff, camping gear, baby stuff, pillows, blankets, and more."

"well that is definitely something to bring up when they get back. I know Rick will for sure want to check it out." He smiled.

"well after what you all have done for Lily and I, it's the least I could do. I don't know if Rick will allow us to stay or not but if he tells us to leave, you guys can still take some of the stuff."

"I don't think you will have to worry about that. Especially after what you are doing for Judith." Beth smiled placing a hand on my arm.

"Great, he will keep me for a milking cow." The three of us laugh gently, Hershel shaking his head.

"If you ladies will excuse this old man, I think I am going to get some sleep." We nod and walk to my cell as he disappears into his. The low squeaking of the bed can be heard as he settles down onto it. When we walk into my cell, I reach over and turn the little lantern on, casting a soft glow in the grey walled room.

"If you want, we have a makeshift crib that we have been using for Judith. If you wanna put her in it you can, it'll give you more room to lay down." She offered as we cleaned against the wall just watching the girls sleep. Lily gently moves her arm.

"Nah, she's fine. Plus I think it's easier that way. If Lily doesn't wake when she does then I can just pull her over to me while still laying down." I explain.

"if you want, I can stay and watch the girls if you wanna go shower. We have been using the cell two down from here as the shower room for now. There is a deep bowl and some rags and stuff you can use. Not the best, but it's better than nothing at all." The offer sounded so good. Having blood on me was not the most comfortable.

"Ok, I'll just wash up and change really quick. I'm sure I will hear them if they start to wake up but just call out if you need me." She nods her head and sits on the edge of the bed. I grab my bag that had my clothes and a few other supplies in it and head to the cell. Inside in the corner is a large bowl sitting on the sink/toilet in the corner along with a lantern that has been hungry up on a screw that remained in the wall. Walking in I close the sheet that someone had hung up for privacy and turned the light on before putting my bag down on a stool that was also in there. Not wanting to take too long, I quickly strip down and grab my toiletries that I got from Walmart and kept in the bag. Wetting a rag in the bowl I put soap on it and quickly wash everything from my neck down twice. After that was done, I leaned over the bowl and grabbed the cup that was next to it and started pouring water in my hair before washing and rinsing it a couple of times with the shampoo and small amount of conditioner.

Finally feeling clean, I dump the water down the toilet and it instantly goes down the drain since there is nothing stopping it. I grab my towel and dry my hair and bit before laying it on the ground and standing on it so I didn't get dirt or water on my clothes as I started to get dressed. After I button up my top, I put my dirty clothes into the towel and bunch it up before grabbing it and my bag and head to my room to grab my brush. When I walk in, Beth is laying down with the girls, sound asleep. Instead of waking her up, I grab my brush and boots before walking out after making sure she was covered with the blanket I had kicked off when I woke up. I go out into the common area and sit on the stairs and start brushing my hair before braiding it into just a basic braid. Well the only braid I really know how to do. Hearing Hershel quietly from his cell, I can't help but laugh softly. I think back to when Brandon's snoring used to wake me up thinking that the roof was having in or something. There was even one time where I slept in the living room when he was sick. His snoring was at an all time high and I'm sure it was shaking that walls that night. But now, I would give anything for those nights again. Hearing Hershel, makes me realize how much I missed being around others the last several months. Hearing movement coming from the cell that Carl had gone into earlier, I slip my boots on over my feet and make my way over only to see him sitting on the bottom bunk with his gun out next to him. He is sitting cross leg, leaning against the wall slipping shells into the clip after inspection them. I lean against the door way and gently knock but apparently not gently enough because he jumps, causing a few bullets to fly to the floor. "Sorry." I smile moving forward to pick them up.

"it's ok." He whispers taking them from me.

"Your dad teach you that?" I ask standing in front of him.

"Yeah, he used to be a cop before all this. Was in a comma at the very beginning." He replies before going back to loading the clip.

"My husband taught me. He was a cop as well, like your dad. He was so damn proud when I hit my first Target at the range. That seems like it was ages ago, really only been about two years or so." I laugh quietly to myself. We fall quiet as I lean against the wall across from him.

"What happened to him? Your husband?" he asks not looking up from his nap.

"We were ambushed a while back by a group of walkers. He got bit and we got away till they caught up. He uh…he distracted them so I could get away."

"I lost my mom." He pauses what he was doing and looks at me sadly. My heart squeezes as I see the sadness in his eyes. "She dies giving birth to Judith. Her, Maggie and I had to run and hide from walkers when a herd was let in by a inmate that was made to leave. We hid in a room in the tombs and she went into labor. Maggie had to cut her stomach open in order to save Judith. She died before Judith was even out. Had to shoot her so she wouldn't turn." I move to sit on the edge of the bed and gently put my hand on his knee. He uncrosses his legs and scoots to sit next to me. "You remind me of her. The little bit of time that I've been around you, I can tell she would have really liked you." He smiles softly.

"Well, if she were anything like me…she was a strong woman. Probably stubborn and loved with all her heart. She sounds like a pretty badass woman." This gets him to laugh a little and I cant help but to smile. "Im sorry you had to go through that. No child should have to do that to their parents. I admire you for your courage and bravery. But I want you to know something that took me a long time to figure out after I lost Brandon. Didn't really get it until I was having Lily. Your mom, she is never really gone. You will always have her in your heart. It's best to push that last memory out and try to remember all of the fun ones. Think about all the times she made you laugh, or the times you made her laugh. Heck even think about the times you got in trouble and she yelled at you. As long as it's a memory, still will still be here. Besides, you will have to tell Judith about them when she gets older. Those are the ones you wanna hold on to for as long as you can." I smile hugging him. He nods his head and lifts up to wipe his cheek. "Now, dry them eyes. Gotta keep that dimpled smile." He laughs wiping his nose on his shirt. "I'm gonna check in with Carol and Axel, see if they need anything. Would you do me the honor of escorting me out?"

"Sure. Let's go." He grabs the keys and his gun before slipping the clip into place.

Time Skip*

A while later after sitting with Carol out in the guard tower and watching the sunrise I made my way back inside, using the keys that Carl gave me so I could get back in. The newcomers were all sitting around the room, quietly talking amongst themselves. I quickly made my way to the cell block and let myself in the locking it. Carl was over by the food storage looking over everything and tossed a can without a label on it back into the crate. "Anything good?" I asked laying the keys down on the top of the stool next to him.

"Lima beans, baked beans, spinach and mystery cans. Anything better than this at the Walmart?" he asks.

"Yeah, mostly noodles and stuff. I got about eight or nine packs of Ramen in my bag. Beth or I can cook them up if you want from everyone." His face brightens and his slight smile makes his dimples come out. "ill take that as a yes." I laugh as he nods his head. It's sometimes hard to remember that he is just a young kid, having to live in a world that is far too harsh for sweet kids. But he has had to grow up to quickly. "Well I am gonna check on Beth and the girls, then one of us will start the noodles." I push away from the wall and make my way toward the cell that had been claimed as mine. As I make my way around the set of stairs that are right in front of my cell, I hear the two girls babbling and Beth singing softly to them. "They been up long?"

"Just about twenty minutes or so. Already changed and cleaned, just laying here content for the time being." She smiles gently poking Lily on the nose. I smile and make my way over to sit on the edge of the bed.

"They should start to get hungry soon. I might just go ahead and feed them so it's out of the way." I say as I start to unbutton my blouse and with the help of Beth, we get them situated and they start feeding almost immediately. "In that bag over there, is about nine packs of Ramen. If you wanna grab them I told Carl that you or I would start cooking them."

"Ok, that sounds better than another can of Lima beans if I'm being honest. Didn't like them before this, don't like them now." She laughs grabbing my bag and going through it to grab all the packs. She places my bag back in the corner at the end of the bed and slips out to find Carl. While I sit there with the girls I start to rock them and sing a song to them.

 _Can you feel the river run,_

 _Waves are dancing to the sun,_

 _Take the tide and face the sea,_

 _And find a way to follow me._

 _Leave the field and leave the fire,_

 _Find the flame of your desire,_

 _Set your heart on this far shore,_

 _And sing your dream to me once more._

I continue to sing the girls as they feed and end up singing a few others before they finish up. I fix my bra and button my shirt back up just as Beth comes bouncing into the room to take Judith. "Noodles are ready." She smiles

"ok, let's go." We make out way out while burping the girls and meet Carl at the cell block door that leads out to the main front area. Beth stays close to me as we make our way into the room. Hershel is sitting at on of the tables tapping up one of the newcomers leg up. Not saying anything Beth and I make our way toward Axel who is dishing out the food for everyone evenly. "Thank you Axel." I smile while taking the bowl and going to sit with Beth at one of the tables with the girls.

"How old are they?" the woman, Sasha, asks.

"Not even a week." Hershel answers as Beth and I are eating quickly to get out of there.

"To be honest, we never thought we'd see another baby." She says softly smiling at us. "Theyre beautiful."

"Thanks." I smile looking at Lily.

"How are you feeling?" she asks looking at Beth and I. Beth looks at me confused before turning back to Sasha.

"She's not mine." She explains.

"Oh, you had twins then?" she asks me shocked.

"No, just this little one."

"where's the mother?" she asks looking around but nobody answers. I may not have known this group this long but I have come to know the ones that are currently here pretty well over the last few days.

"I understand that you are curious about us just as we are curious about you. But some questions don't need to be asked. There are some things that people would rather not think about, especially with how the world is now. I think you should hold any other questions you may have, for later when Rick gets back." I say looking at Sasha. She nods her head and turns to head back to Tyreese, who we found out is her brother. "You done?" I ask Beth, noticing that she wasn't eating anymore.

"Yeah, let's take the girls back to the cell block for a while. I agree and follow her, Carl locking us in. We grab blankets and lay them on the floor in front of us before laying the girls on it. There really isn't much to do other than wait for the rest of the group to get back.

 _*A/N Soooo...Sasha and Tyreese are there now. how do you feel about their interaction with the group? like i said previously most will be from the show but some will be canon._

 _Also, the song that Lacey is singing to Lily and Judith is **Mo Ghile Mear by Celtic Woman.** Like i said in one of my previous chapters, i have a tumblr account with pictures, links and more on it for this story. go to tumblrs website and search my account name: **stefani-marie09**. if you have any problems finding it let me know in a PM or comment._

 _But speaking of reviews, please leave some? i havent recieved any so i am not sure if that is good or bad. if its bad then let me know wha you dont like, what i could change. if its good then tell me what you like. also, give me some ideas on what you would like to see or what you think will work!!!!*_


	6. chapter 6

* **A few ho** **urs later***

"They're back." Axel says peering into the room. Hershel and Beth get up to head out.

"Leave Judith, I'll watch her for ya." I offer as Beth starts to bend down to pick her up. She nods her head before quickly following her dad out to meet with the others.

"I'll inform Rick about everything." Hershel says gesturing to Judith. I nod my head and watch as he disappears from sight. I turn back to the girls and smile at them.

"Ok girls, no pooping or fighting from the two of you." I laugh lightly. Not long after Beth walks in, holding the hands of a tall brunette woman with shoulder length hair. The woman she was with, releases Beth's hand and disappears into a cell without even noticing me. That must be her sister. Beth makes her way over to us and bends down to pick Judith up just as the rest of the group walks in. I pick Lily up and stand in the back near the wall not wanting to be seen yet as Beth makes her way toward Rick.

"She kinda has Lori's eyes, don't ya think?" she asks handing the baby to her father. I watch as Rick holds Judith up and looks at her eyes. A wide range of emotions cross over his features as he studies her. He nods his head to Beth and adjusts Judith in his arms, pulling her close and kissing her forehead. He raises his head and notices me as I stand near the steps to the upper level with Lily.

"Um, hi." God could I be anymore stupid? What kind of greeting is that? I watch as he comes closer to us and looks down at Lily with a small smile on his face. Not sure what to say, I decided to allow him to say the first word.

Thankfully he does.

"Hershel told me that you have been feeding Judith?" he asks. Not sure if he is upset or angry or not, I hesitate with my answer and look over his shoulder to the named man. Seeing him standing there with Beth and Carl, he gives me a subtle nod.

"Um yes. She uh, Beth said that she was having trouble with handling the formula when she ate. I read once a while back that some babies can't tolerate formula. I offered to do it and everything. Please don't be upset with them. I just wanted to help and I happen to have what she needs. If you don't want me to continue to do it any longer, I will stop. But I would recommend allowing me to at least get as much as I can into a bottle so she can have it that way. Carl is ok with it and I will take the blame if you want." Holy shit, I didn't know I could talk that fast. I nervously start to sway side to side, waiting for him to reply. He just Snickers before shaking his head.

"I'm not sure I understood half of what you said but I am gonna assume if was an apology or something." He lightly jokes. My mouth falls open as I look at him, not fully sure I know how to answer that.

"Um, yes. No. Kinda. I just wanted to say that if I offended you by feeding her, I'll stop."

"It is a weird situation but it seems to be the only way she is able to get a full belly. I don't mind it, as long as you don't."

"Not at all. For some reason Lily prefers my right and leaves the left hanging. Judith actually helps with that." I say making everyone laugh lightly. "Also, I just…I have to thank you for helping us when we showed up the other day at the fence. I was so scared that I would have Lily out there and something would happen. I was literally in the middle of the woods when my labor started. You didn't have to let us in, but I am so thankful you did. I literally owe you our lives." He nods his head and looks down at Judith as she starts to wake up.

"Well, you're welcome to stay. I can't see you willingly putting your daughter into harms way and I don't think you are dangerous. Plus, Judith needs ya." Beth and Hershel immediately start to laugh from behind Rick.

"What did I tell you Beth." I laugh looking over to the blonde who is bent over slapping her leg while laughing. Rick looks at us with a confused expression on his face and I laugh more. "We talked about this and I told her that you would let me stay only because Judith needs to eat. Nothing but a milk cow." I inform him. He joins in with our light laughter before shaking his head.

"Well regardless, you're one of us now." I smile up at him and step forward to give him a quick hug, obviously shocking the shit out of him because he freezes up for a second before returning the friendly gesture. It was in the moment that I realize just how attractive he is. When we first arrived I thought he was good looking but his looks with how he smells…its pure man. Sweat, smoke, woods and even a hint of gun powder. We separate and I clear my throat taking a step back. "I gotta take care of something . Beth, would you mind watching her for a little bit longer?"

"of course." Said girl says stepping forward to take Judith as Rick turns and leaves suddenly. Carol appears next to us and smiles at me.

"How are you feeling?" she asks.

"Good. Girls are leaving me exhausted from the feedings every three or four hours." I laugh looking at the girls.

"well why don't I take Lily for you and I'll watch her while you take a nap or something." She offers.

"Are you sure? I heard about that Daryl guy, heard you were close to him."

"its perfectly fine. I could use the little distraction." She smiles.

"ok, I'm just gonna check on Michonne real quick then I love bring her to ya. After all she did save our lives out there a couple times."

"ok, I'll be upstairs." I nod and turn to head to the cell that Michonne had walked into earlier while we were talking. Peeking in I see her sitting on the edge of the bed, examining he stitches that Hershel put in to close the bullet wound. Raising my hand, I knocked on the metal frame making her jump.

"Knock, knock. You up for a visit?" I asked. She looks at me and Lily before casting her eyes behind me before nodding her head and sitting back down on the bed. "We won't keep you long, since you must be exhausted. I just wanted to check up on you since I haven't been able to since we first got here. Figured you'd wanna meet the little girl you saved." I sat down next to her and laid Lily down on my thighs so she could see her. She didn't say anything for the longest time, she actually seemed nervous. "I honestly can not thank you enough for what you did that day in the woods. You could have kept walking but the fact that you didn't means so much to me. I had been alone for the longest time and didn't know if I would actually ever come across someone who wasn't trying to take supplies from me or something. Not that I have come across many people to begin with other than the walkers. But, I just wanna say that I owe you my life and hers. If you need anything, anything at all just let me know. Unless you plan to kill someone here then you're on your own." The last part gets a little smile out of her before it's silent in the room. I look at up from Lily to Michonne to see her watching Lily. "Wanna hold her?" I ask moving my legs and Lily closer to her.

"No. I can't." she says moving away. I see a look on her face and it breaks my heart. That look of someone being haunted with a past memory. I can't help but wonder if she lost a child at some point in her life.

"Ok, that's fine. But if you ever change your mind it's perfectly fine." I smile. She nods her head before relaxing a bit. "How's your leg? I see Hershel was able to fix it up for you." She looks down at it and wipes away some dirty that has gathered near it.

"Hurts a bit. All the running we had to do in Woodbury pulled at the stitches and irritated the area." She explains.

"I don't have any strong drugs or anything but I do have some Tylenol and Advil if you want some." I offer gesturing toward my cell.

"Nah, I'll be alright. Just gotta rest it for a bit and keep it clean. Thanks though." I nod my head and bump her shoulder with my right one.

"Ill let you get some rest. My cell is next to yours if you need anything." I say standing up, carefully adjusting Lily so she doesn't wake up. Michonne nods her head and lays down to get some rest. As I leave, I head up the stairs to see Carol and Beth standing at the top talking amongst themselves. "She just fell asleep a few minutes ago. Should sleep for a while, he tummy is full." I explain gently handing her off to the older woman.

"Ok, I'm sure we will be fine. If we need you, we will come get you." I nod my head and place a kiss on Lily's forehead before heading back down the stairs to my cell. I plop down on the bed and lay back on my pillow before kicking off my boots and falling asleep rather quickly.

 ** *Meanwhile, third person POV***

Rick soon joined Hershel and Carl outside near the truck. Needing to be informed of all that went down while they were away. "How were things here?"

"Quiet for the most part, other than that group showing up on us." Hershel replies.

"We will deal with that later. I heard Beth mention something earlier to Glenn about Lacey knowing where we could get supplies without having to worry about walkers?"

"Yeah, before she came here she was staying at a Walmart that is about thirty minutes north of here. She said that it was pretty much cleared out of most of the woods and stuff out on the shelves but she found where they used to store it in the back. She secured the store and took everything of use to the old employee break room. Said that if anyone ever came looking that it would look like there was nothing left aside from some clothes and stuff." Hershel explained.

"She did it by herself, that pregnant?" Confusion was clear on Rick's face.

"She told me that she was there for about a week and a half and used a cart to move everything. She found about two dozen cases of water bottles in the back as well. She said if you agreed to it, she would be happy to help us get all the supplies. There is a back door that is right across the hall from the room she was staying in. She said it would be easy to get in and out without any trouble but would take a few trips to get everything. From the way she talked about it, there is basically an entire house in there. Blankets, pillows, camping stuff, hygiene supplies, first aid stuff and more. That's the easiest jackpot ever." Carl said. Rick nodded his head and looked around at the field and the surrounding woods as if looking for something.

"Ok, we will check it out. But we gotta deal with this governor first." The two nodded before following him back inside.

 ***Back to Lacey***

"Lacey." A deep husky voice calls for me. I'm dreaming about mine and Brandon's honeymoon when suddenly it changes to walkers busting down the door and ripping Brandon away from me. I'm screaming for him and trying to reach him but the walkers are pulling him out the door. Just before I able to grab his hand, the door they came through slams shut and I snap out of my dream to feel a firm hand on my shoulder. I jerk away and look up to see Rick standing there holding a crying Judith. "You ok?" he asks cautiously.

"Um…yeah. Bad dream. Everything alright?" I ask sitting up and adjusting my shirt.

"Yeah. I didn't wanna wake you, Carol said you haven't been getting much sleep. But I think she is hungry. Would you mind…uh…you know?" he awkwardly gestures to his chest as if he were holding a cantaloupe to them. I can't help but laugh out loud at that and his face begins to darken as it turns red.

"Sure." I laugh getting into a comfortable position before reaching for Judith. He hands her over before stepping back to stand against the wall. "Just a heads up, I don't really have anything to cover myself up with yet. So I'm kind of exposing myself here." His face darkens even further as he catches on to what I was saying. "im sure it's not the first time you've seen breasts considering you have Carl and Judith, just wanted to give you a heads up if you wanted to leave. I don't mind if you stay." I explained. He turns his head as I lift my shirt and bra out of the way, revealing my nipple before bringing Judith to my chest. I chuckle to myself at the sweet gesture. Different than being stared at by Axel. "You can look now." He casts his eyes in my direction to check if the coast is clear before fully turning. He pulls the stool that is in the corner over and sits down on it, looking down at his hands that are covered in dirt. "You alright?" I ask looking down at Judith to make sure she keeps a strong suction.

"Yeah, got a lot on my plate." He sighs leaning back against the wall.

"The struggles of being the leader." I smile at him as he nods his head in agreement. He looks back down at his hands and fiddles with his wedding ring. "Um…im sorry about your wife. I know what it's like to lose the one you love." I whisper sadly. He nods his head and looks up at me slowly.

"Yeah, Carol and Hershel kinda filled me in on your story while you were asleep. I'm sorry you had to go through all of that along. Seven months right?" he asks scratching his eyebrows.

"yeah, just about I think. Time is different out there. Not knowing what time or day it is. Hell if it wasn't for my growing bump while I was pregnant I would have thought it had been a week since I lost him. For the longest time after losing him, my greatest fear was that with the lack of proper care and food and stuff that I would surely miscarry. Every time I got the slightest cramp, I'd start to panic thinking that that was the moment I would lose her. But some how, even with all the running from walkers, she's here. Probably wouldn't be if it weren't for Michonne. Then when I thought you weren't going to help us when we showed up. I thought it was it."

"Honestly, when I first saw you. I didn't even know you were real. Pregnant and at the fence, I thought I was hallucinating. I wasn't really seeing you, I was seeing Lori. We had lost her the day before you showed up and the last time I saw her, Judy was still in her belly." He explains.

"I understand. I kept seeing Brandon the first couple of months after he died. I even "saw" him when I was having Lily. I was seeing him instead of you, sorry about that by the way. How's the hand?" I ask making him Snickers as he flexes his fingers.

"I think it will survive. I've had worse than a partially numb hand." He replies before laughing. I can't help but smile when I see the way his smile reaches up toward his ears and his eyes develop a gleam in them. He has an amazing smile, guess Carl not only got his eyes but his smile too.

"Carl mentioned you were in a coma. Said is happened in the line of duty."

"Yeah. My partner and I were involved in a shootout with these three guys who were leading a high speed chase. One of them managed to hit me just under my rib, nicking my lung. I don't remember much after that but I woke up almost two months later in the hospital. Thought I would be able to get a hold of Lori and see Carl. But I only woke up to the freaking end of the world." Damn, talk about a rude Awakening.

"My husband was a Deputy Chief for Athens PD." I smile. That grabs his attention and he looks at me quickly with a shocked look.

"Wait, Brandon Anderson was your husband?" Now it was my turn to be thoroughly shocked.

"How did you know him?"

"We met at a Georgia PD conference about three years ago. Every department across the state had to send an officer to Atlanta for it. We got placed at the same table and ended up grabbing a few beers after and just sat talking for a while. I must say, for being as young as he was, I was highly impressed with the way he carried himself. He was laid back and relaxed until he was in his uniform then it seemed like he flipped a switch and became really serious but yet calm at the same time." I couldn't help but laugh at the perfect description of him.

"Yep, that was Brandon. Talk about a small world. You know, he did tell me a little about this older cop who thought he was John Wayne with his cowboy hat." I teased as he laughed.

"He made fun of my hat the entire time we were in Atlanta. Kept calling me partner and cowboy. Made all those stupid jokes he could about cowboys. Asked if I caught any criminals or if I just played cowboys and Indians." I couldn't hold back my laughter at that.

"He told me about that. Even told me how you reminded him of his old man before he passed. His dad was a cop for forty years before he died. He said even though he had only known you for a few days, you really made an impression on him."

"Well damn. Gonna make me get all emotional." He laughed softly. "You know, I was really shocked when they gave him that promotion. I sat there thinking, how the hell did a twenty-five year old become the damn Chief of Athens PD?. It took me ten almost fifteen years to get to where I was. I must admit, I was kinda jealous." He laughed.

"He was one of the best on the force there. Most of the cops in Athens just wanted to meet their quota for the month and slack off most of the time. But not Brandon. He took that job seriously and genuinely wanted to help others. Even when they were on the wrong side of the law. After he would arrest them, he would talk to them and try to give them some life advice. Especially the youngsters that were always causing trouble. Plus it kinda helped that he did a major drug bust while serving a court order. Worth one point five million." I couldn't help but brag about Brandon. He really was one of the best cops. Rick whistled and smirks.

"Lucky bastard." He laughs.

"No, I was the lucky one." I smile looking down at Judith as she detached and saw she was asleep. I quickly adjust myself before giving Rick a show. "She's out." I whisper looking up at him but continue to rock her. "For what it's worth, I'm glad that you survived and I are glad to have found you all. It's been a while since I felt safe and knowing that I'm sharing a prison who was a brother to my husband, makes me feel safer. Especially more so now that my daughter is protected by one of the best cowboy cops in all of Georgia." I can't help but tease as he rolls his eyes. I stand up slowly so I don't wake Judith and lean over toward him to place a kiss on his cheek. But right when my lips are about to touch his cheek, he turns his head in shock at me being so close and our lips meet.

 ** _*A/N! HOLY CRAP THEY KISSED! Tell me what you think. Was it too soon? Should they hav waited a while? Let me know your thoughts. I know that the last several chapters have been kinda bleh, just i promise in the next chapter there will be more action. As i said previously this story will flow with the show but it will have some canon parts. There have been some parts of the show that i really didnt like so i might change them up a bit to fit my needs, like some people might die who didnt in the show and some who did die in the show might not. I havent really decided. But let me know your thoughts and concerns. Also feel free to leave me idea to twist things up.*_**


	7. chapter 7

At first I am completely shocked, not expecting to place my lips on anything but his cheek. 'Wow his lips were soft.' I can't help but thinking as he leans a little into the kiss. Slowly pulling away I look at him. "Sorry, that was meant for your cheek. I hope you don't think that I was trying to make a move or anything because I really wasn't. Not that you aren't attractive because you are, like really. God I'm so dumb, I—" I'm cut off before I can finish my sentence by Rick pressing his lips back to mine. He stands up and brings a hand up to my neck holding me to him. Before I can even register what has happened fully, the feeling of his tongue asking permission draws me in.

 ** _Holy shit!! I just met him and now I'm making out with him?_** But man it feels nice to have this kinda of contact again. **_He just lost his wife for crying out loud_**. Lord Almighty he is a great kisser.

He tightens his grip on my neck and pulls me even closer, bringing his other hand up to hold my waist. His hand on my neck moves slightly and he is able to cradle my cheek. As he tries to pull me even closer against him, a frustrated squeal snaps us harshly back to reality. We pull apart and stare at one another for a few seconds, breathing heavy and trying to get control of it. He drops his hands to his side before taking a step back against the wall. He clears his throat and brings a hand up to wipe across his face.

"I-um, I am going to check on um Carl and Judith." He whispers before turning and hurrying out of the cell. I stand there for a second and then look down at said little girl that was asleep in my arms.

"He forgot I was holding you. Guess I distracted him." I say to myself. Boots echo loudly against the floor as they seem to make their way toward my cell before coming to a stop. I look up and see Rick standing there pointing at Judith, looking at a loss for words.

"You have Judith." He states shifting to his other foot.

"Yes, I have Judith." I confirm with a laugh. He nods his head and waves his pointed finger in the air a couple times.

"Right. Ok, um. Yeah." He says before turning away and walking away again. As he disappears, Carol appears in the doorway.

"What happened to Rick?" she asked looking after him before turning to me with a confused expression.

"Um, nothing." I answer, hoping she will let it drop but unfortunately she doesn't.

"Mhm, are you sure? He looked flustered and I watched him do about five circles while heading toward the common area before turning around and coming back here." She says.

"Yep, I'm sure." I say handing Judith over to her. "I am going to get Lily." I whisper before hightailing it away from her. I make my way out to the common area, to see Beth walking toward me with who I guess was Maggie who I have yet to officially meet.

"I was just coming to find you. Think she is getting hungry or just missed you." Beth smiles passing Lily over to me.

"Well it's probably the first one. That seems to be all I do anymore, feed feed and feed some more." The three of us laugh as I adjust myself and Lily so she can eat.

"Oh, Lacey! This is my sister Maggie. Maggie this is Lacey. She showed up the same day you and Glenn were taken. Michonne helped her here since she was in labor." She said introducing us.

"its nice to meet you. Beth has told me a little about you but not much. I'm sorry about what happened to you."

"Thanks, she's beautiful by the way." She smiles raising her hand to brush softly across the side of Lily's hair.

"Thanks." I grin looking down at my little girl. Rick and Hershel walk past us and we follow them to stand with Carol and Axel.

"So, what now? You think the governor will retaliate?" Beth questions.

"Yes." Maggie answers standing behind her sister.

"Let him try." An unfamiliar voice answers. I look to my right to see a young Asian in the doorway of a cell, with his face covered in the biggest bruise I have ever seen and a swollen right eye.

"Sounds like he's got a whole town. We're outnumbered and outgunned." A sudden fear that I haven't felt in a long time takes a hold of me as I look at the bruised up man before looking down at Lily.

"if this guys is as dangerous as you say, I honestly don't know if staying here is the best option. I will not put my daughter in that kind of danger when the world is already dangerous enough as it is." I speak up looking at Rick with fear in my eyes.

"We will make sure she and Judith are one-hundred percent safe if worse comes to worse. I assure you that." Hershel says placing his hand on my shoulder.

"Well if shit goes down, I won't abandon my daughter. She already won't know her father and I'll be damned if she loses me as well." I whisper the last part.

"That's understandable." Hershel says nodding his head. "We could use some reinforcements." He turns to Rick, slightly jerking his head toward the common area where Tyreese and his group were currently waiting for us. He nods his head and turns to head out, the rest of us following him. Tyreese and his group stand from their seats as we enter and Tyreese steps forward as Rick comes to a stop in front of them.

"Names Tyreese. This is my sister Sasha and our friend Allen and his son Ben." He says holding out his hand toward Rick, who ignores it and examines them all.

"How'd you get in?" he asks.

"There is some fire damage to the administration part of the building. Went in through there, ended up getting corned in the boiler room by walkers." Tyreese answers.

"That side was over run, how did you get this far?" Rick asks.

"They were lost in the tombs." Carl answered. Rick turned to look at him before turning back to the group.

"Hershel said you can use some extra sets of hands. We're no strangers to hard work. We'll go out and get our own food. Stay out of your hair. You got a problem with another group, we'll help with that too. Anything to contribute." When Tyreese is done talking, we all wait quietly for Rick to decide. After he remains quiet for a while, I decide to speak up.

"Rick, I probably don't have a right to say anything. Especially since I'm still new here, but we could use the help. We're gonna need all we can get if what you think is going to happen actually does." I says.

"I can't be responsible for anyone else. There is enough to deal with as it is."

"You don't have to be. When you allowed Michonne and I to come into the prison, you gave us a chance and I can't thank you enough for that. But we need the numbers. If I have to, I will take full responsibility for them. If they do something that could harm the group in anyway, I myself will handle it. If needed, I'll do it with force." I say looking over at the siblings who nod in agreement at my terms before looking back to Rick.

"Fine, if they step an inch out of line, either they leave or you shoot them. No other options." He says firmly.

"Agreed." He nods his head before walking away toward the outer door. A collective sign of relief leaves just about everyone as Sasha and Tyreese hug each other. I feel a hand on my shoulder and look to see Hershel smiling at me.

"You did good." He says before walking away.

 ** _What the hell did I get myself into?_** ** _* i know this is short, but it was originally supposed to be the ending to chapter six but it got cut off. Instead of adding it to the end of it, i decided to leave six with a cliffhanger and make this into its own chapter, even if its so short. sorry for any confusion if you have already ready the other chapter seven and had to come back to read this one. Let me know what you thought of their first kiss.*_**


	8. chapter 8

**_*Quick A/N, I just wanna give a shout out to Elljayde for being the only one to commenting and giving me feedback, if you have any ideas or thoughts please feel free to message me. I'd love to hear what you're thoughts are! OK, now onto the story.*_**

The next day, Tyreese and the others were given cells after moving some of the others around a bit and it was decided that the four of them would share two cells on the upper row to the left at the end. When they were moving into their cells, I had asked them to leave their weapons out in the front area, in the cage that is near the main door. Tyreese, Sasha and Been agreed but Allen was another story. He claimed that he couldn't trust us to protect him or his son if something happened. Before I could speak though, Tyreese beat me to the punch. "We are in their house. Until they can trust us, you'll do it."

"Its not necessary to have a weapon while inside, but when you go out you can have a knife. I promise it's only temporary, only until we get to know you better." I assured them all. This turned into a fifteen minute argument with a man who was acting like a complete four year old. Finally Tyreese had had enough and snapped.

"If you ruin this for us, I'll kill you myself. This is the best we have had in a while. Now either hand it over, or I'll take it by force." He barked at the man. Allen, clearly being terrified of a pissed of Tyreese, pulled his weapon out and handed it to me quickly before stepping back. He turned and hurried up the stairs to the upper cells and disappeared into the room he was sharing with Ben. After that, the day was actually going by pretty…

Until Rick seemed to completely check out on us. Michonne had come in from the field where she was on watch and informed us that something was wrong with Rick. When Hershel asked what it was, she explained that she was coming out of the bus when she saw Rick running toward the gate like he was running toward something. She watched him run out to the small foot bridge over the pond and stand there as if he were talking to someone. I instantly knew what she was talking about, he had mentioned that he has been seeing Lori. Its part of his way of grieving and trying to cope with his wife being gone. I still see Brandon from time to time but I realized that he wasn't actually there, but made myself think that he was checking on me. Saying hi or something. Glenn and I have gone down there to check on him and see what was going on but he didn't really respond. He just kept saying, 'Shes here, she won't leave me alone, she can't be here.' And also asking "Lori" what she wanted from him before walking off into the woods. Not knowing what else to do, we headed back up to the prison and gathered everyone together. With Daryl gone and Rick chasing his ghosts, the group was left without a leader and Glenn felt it was up to him to take over till either Daryl came back or Rick rejoined the living.

While we were talking about how to fortify the rear part of the prison Lily and Judith started to whine from the inner cell block so I left to check on them. Both girls were laying in the makeshift bed that was made out of large mail baskets. As soon as I heard them, I could smell what was wrong and started gathering everything I would need. Unfortunately for me, it was a double blow out. "How am I going to do this when both of you blow out your diapers like that?" I ask them in a cooing way. Feeling someone behind me, I peek over my shoulder to see Sasha hesitantly standing behind me.

"Need some help?" she asks quietly.

"Um, sure." I smile as she hurries over. "They both pretty much obliterated their diapers unfortunately. Their clothes will be have to be burn in the burn barrel. Can't waste water trying to get them clean again. We will just have to do it outside." She nods and we gather the stuff we would need to clean them up and I grab an empty plastic shopping bag to put everything into it that will be burned. We baby talk the girls about how smelly they were and laughed when they would grunts at us as if they were telling us to not judge, but for the most part we remained quiet as we quickly got them cleaned and redressed. "If you wanna grab Judith, we can rejoin the others out there and I'll feed them."

"Where's the formula for Judith? I'll make it for you." She asks.

"Judith actually doesn't take formula. She has a sensitive tummy so I breastfeed her as well. When I arrived and had Lily, Judith was basically starving because she refused to take a bottle." I explain.

"So, you breastfeed both Judith and Lily? Isn't that exhausting?" she asks curiously.

"It can be. But we all make sure that they are fed at the same time. They are pretty much on the same schedule which makes it easier to take care of them."

"Are you producing a lot of milk or something? Because that seems like a lot." I can't help but laugh at her shocked expression.

"Well, ever since Lily was born she refused to feed from my left breast. Would down right throw a fit if I tried to even get her near my left one. She prefers the right. When we discovered that the formula was giving Judith belly aches, I offered to feed her. I had tried to get the milk out myself but it wasn't coming out like it normally would be. But we gave it a try and sure enough, she latched right on and ate like it was the best thing in the world. I think this little one was just trying to tell me something and was making room for her." I smiled at the two girls.

"And Rick is ok with it?"

"Well I mean, he doesn't really have a choice. It hard to find basic stuff for us to survive, let alone finding the special formula that she will take. Plus, it helps me out with milk production and losing the baby weight. But for them most part, he is ok with it." She nods her head and we start to head toward the other room, but right before we could make our way through the door Maggie walks past us looking upset before disappearing up the stairs and into an empty cell. Sasha and I look at each other before joining he others. When we talk in Glenn, Tyreese, Been and Carl are dressed in the raid gear they found, standing by the gate that leads to the tombs.

"What's going on?" Sasha asks handing Judith to Carol.

"We're gonna head to the boiler room. See if there is anyway to block off the area to keep walkers from getting in. If walkers can get in, so can the governor's men and we can't let that happen." Tyreese explained picking up the machete that was laying on the table.

"Need an extra set of hands?" she asks Glenn.

"Not with this no. But would you mind helping Michonne with watch?" he asks slipping his gun into the back of his pants.

"Sure, she in the tower?" She looks at me.

"I believe so. That's where she said she'd be earlier." I answer, shifting from side to side. She nods her head before picking up the shovel that she came here with but Glenn quickly stops her.

"Grab one of the rifles. A shovel isn't gonna stop unwanted people." He says gesturing toward the cage near the entrance where all the weapons are locked up when not in use. She nods her head before grabbing a gun and heading outside.

"Carl." He looks at me when he hears me call for him. "You best be careful young man."

"I will." He says nodding his head. Glenn pulls the gate open and Beth quickly closes it once they are through and locks it back.

"Now we wait." Carol says looking up at Beth and I.

"Im gonna feed the girls real quick. Sasha helped me clean them up after the bombed their diapers. My boobs are starting to hurt a bit." The three of us laugh. I sit down at one of the tables and just like second nature, the three of us get the girls positioned comfortably and latched on like the pros they are by now. The two women sit with me while the girls eat, we sit and talk just about random things from our old lives. Like foods we loved, what we enjoyed doing as a hobby, things we missed. "One thing I miss almost more than food…sex." I groan making Beth and Carol laugh. "Im serious. Brandon and I had a very active and playful sex life."

"Wish my husband and I did. We used to at the very beginning of our marriage but over the years, especially after we had Sophia, he started to drink more. He leave work and meet up with his buddies to play poker and stuff. Then the violence became the only physical contact that I received from him. But I really do miss my vibrator. Man the things it could make me feel." She laughed. "Of course I'd only get to have fun with B.O.B when he wasn't home but it was worth it."

"I once had sex with a guy in the hayloft of the barn on the farm when Daddy thought I was sick and had to stay home from church. He was a year older than me and I was tired of waiting for the perfect guy and waiting for someone special. I know that you're supposed to wait till marriage but I don't think I am going to hell for having sex. But he said he knew what he was doing, that he had been with plenty of girls before but I think he was even more inexperienced than I was. Worst three minutes of my life." She says with a giggle.

"What did I just hear you say Elizabeth Anne?" Hershel's deep angry voice questions from behind us making the three of us jump. I watch as Beth's face becomes white as snow as she looks at her father that is behind us.

"Shit." She whispers.

"We need to have a talk young lady." He says. I can hear the click of his crutches clack against the ground and fade away. Beth gets up and looks at us.

"If you don't hear or see me the rest of the day, just assume he has chained me up in on of the towers and thrown away the key."

"I doubt he can do that." Carol smirks at the nervous girl. Beth playfully glares at her and slides the keys over before leaving to follow her dad. Carol and I shake our heads as we watch her leave, hoping Hershel isn't too tough on her. Not even two seconds later, we can hear Hershel trying to quietly yell at his daughter like any father would. I look down to the girls to see that Judith as stopped feeding and is just laying there in my arms, looking around.

"Judy is done. I think I am going to grab a few things and head on out to the field. It's a nice day out, wanna enjoy it with Lily while I can before the hits us again." I say fixing up my bra and shirt.

"Ok, make sure you take your gun and knife." She says sternly.

"Yes mum." I reply smirking.

"Smartass." She replies as I had Judith to her and hold Lily to me, burping her as I walk to our cell. I walk past Hershel and Beth who are sitting on the bottom bunk sharing a soft and quiet conversation. I grab my back pack and dump the stuff that was in it and put the umbrella, some burping rags, a diaper and wipes, some toys and some snacks for myself. After grabbing the quilted blanket off the end of the bed, we head out to the field. I find a spot that is covered with wild flowers and lay the blanket out as best I can before sitting here down. I lay her down on the spot that is puffed up from the large bundle of flowers and grass that is under the blanket before pulling out the umbrella and placing it near her so she isn't in the direct sunlight. I pull the bag closer to us and place my gun right on top of it.

"There we go, nice and shady just for my Lily pad. What do you think baby girl? Beautiful day isn't it?" I asks cooing at her. She opens her eyes and let's out a little sneeze before looking around at the new environment. I grab a hold of one of the tall stemmed flowers that is standing next to our blanket and snap it off to hold it above Lily's face so she could look at it. I lay next to her with my head laying on my bent are and watch the amazement and happiness that shows on her slightly rounded baby cheeks. Listening to the insects chirping and birds singing in the trees, I start to sing to her.

After forty-five minutes of enjoying the feeling of the sun on my bare skin, I hear the loud roar of an engine and the sound of Gates being pulled open followed by tires on gravel. Lifting my head up, I catch a glimpse of Glenn speeding out of the prison yard before disappearing into the woods. "The hell?" I ask to myself sitting up and crossing my legs. I see Sasha quickly closing the large gate then look up back to the courtyard and see Hershel standing there shaking his head as he watches Glenn leave in the truck. I watch as he looks to his right and before making his way toward that section of fence, yelling for Rick. I hear a sharp whistle and look to the tower to see Michonne standing outside the tower on the walkway with binoculars looking at me. I wave at her and hold my thumb up to let her know we were ok. She signals back and turns to check on the rest of the yard. I turn my attention back to Hershel to see him turning away from Rick before stopping and turning back. Rick is holding on to the gate and talking to him. After a while, he turns and walks away leaving Hershel. Suddenly, there is a loud popping sound that cracks through the air, making me jump at the sudden disruption to the peace.

"NO!" I hear Carol scream. I look to the upper court yard, trying to figure out what was happening. I look in time to see Axel drop to the ground with a bullet holes to the head, Carol trying to catch him. Seconds later multiple shots start flying across the open filled and I quickly lay myself flat on the ground and pull Lily toward me. I am almost laying on top of her. The sudden loud noise, has woken her up and she is screaming.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" I whimper as a bullet zips a couple inches from my head and hits the umbrella, putting a hold into it. I grab her binky and slip it into her mouth and cover her ears before laying as flat and still as possible. Hoping if they think I'm dead, they will stop shooting in our direction. "Shh. It's ok baby girl. We're gonna be ok." I continue to tell her. Hoping that my hands over her ears and my voice will be enough to calm her down. I can feel my eyes start to burn as the thought of something happening to her while we are out here with no cover comes to my mind. I manage to peek up at the tower that is too my right, hoping there is a spot there for us to hide in, but as I look up at the walkway I see a man that I haven't seen before shooting at the upper courtyard. Moving slowly, not trying to make any sudden moves, I reach toward my bag and grab my gun that is still laying on top. I flip the safety off and use the bag as leverage and take him before firing at the unknown man. I hear him grunts loudly and the clatter of his gun closely followed by a dull thud. I look up to she that I had hit him and he fell over the railing, only to fall to the ground below him.

As quick as they started, they stop. All is quiet for a few seconds before the faint roar of a large engine can be heard, followed by the sound of speeding tires on the gravel road that leads to the prison. 'What now?' I ask myself, lifting my head to the fence in time to see a large delivery truck smash into it completely taking off of its hinges. It speeds into the yard before turning around and coming to a stop. I watch in horror as the rear end of the truck falls open, allowing dozens of walkers to spill out, completely taking over the yard. The driver of the truck jumps out and starts firing at Michonne who had been hiding behind the bus while the shots were being fired. I quickly put everything back into the back pack and slip it onto my back as I watch the walkers spread out and a few have taken notice of us. As I quickly pick up Lily, I slip he into the baby wrap carrier that was tied around my body and keep one hand on her back while my other is lifted with the gun and took aim at the nearest walker. Keeping my hand on Lily's back, I start to back away from the group of fifteen or so walkers that were still coming toward us. Just as my back hit the fence that is at the front of the yard, I keep taking out walkers as I hear the rest of the group open fire and start taking out walkers as well. Aiming the gun to take out the walker that is closest to us, I shoot but nothing happens.

 **Click click click.**

"No. shit, shit, shit, shit." I slip it into my holster and look around trying to find a place to go. Another roar of an engine catches my attention and I catch a glimpse of Glenn returning in the truck. The truck flies into the field and he successfully takes out a few walkers in the process. "GLENN!" I yell trying to get his attention, in doing so I startle Lily and she starts screaming again. I move to my left away from the walkers a bit and see that Glenn has gone to get Michonne who was helping. I watch in horror as the trio get in the truck and drive back up to the others behind the gate. With Rick and Daryl on the outside and the rest of the group on the other side of the gate, safe…I realize that it's just the two of us and I cant take the risk of using my knife with Lily with me. Realizing I only have one choice I start screaming, making Lily's wails pick up in the process..

"RICK! DARYL! HEEELP! SOMEONE!" I scream at the top of my lungs. This riles the walkers up and draws more attention to me. I continue to move along the fence and keep my back to it. I know that if I at least have some sort of safety behind me, I can keep an eye on the walkers to my right and in front of me as well. The only clear space is to my left and I can't really run with Lily. I can hear the commotion of everyone freaking out when they realize that Lily and I are cornered by the walkers. I know that they can't stop firing at them randomly because they could hit either one of us. Just as I take another step to my left, a sudden force is wrapped around my left ankle and then I am falling backwards, onto my butt. Gripping Lily to me, preparing for impact, I hit harder than expected and look to see what was wrapped around my ankle. Looking down my leg, I see one of the walkers that had been taken down, clawing at my boots and pants. I can vaguely hear everyone yelling my name but the only thing I can focus on is getting this thing off of my legs so I can get away, but it's placed it's entire body on my legs, holding them down.

"NOOO! PLEASE GOD HELP!" I start yelling and crying. Fear has completely gripped me and I can process what I should be doing.

Somehow, I don't know how I did it, but I got my right leg free and I instantly bring the heel of my boots onto the walkers head. Bringing it down repeatedly, I end up smashing it's head in, covering my pants in blood. Everything around me has started to get fuzzy as my vision blurres and my heart races in my chest. I try to get back to my feet but my legs give out on me and I feel the fear slowly creeping back over me as everything is starts moving in slow motion. I can see the walkers to my right, moving in with their arms outreached towards us and to my left, I can see blurry figures racing towards up. I see a couple arrows fly across the open area and vaguely recognize the sound of a gun being fired. Feeling my head become too light and my eyes roll back, I grip Lily tight to me and collapse to the ground as darkness envelopes me in it's grip.

 ** _*Author's Note! Ok, WOW! I am honestly not sure how I feel about this chapter. I re-wrote this chapter probably about twelve times, especially the action part with Lacey and Lily being in the field and the governor and everything. I just wanted to put in a part for Lacey in that. But I honestly am not too sure how I feel. I feel like out of all the re-writes that I did, this is the best one haha. Please let me know what you thought. Also, I know there are a lot of grammatical errors but I am not perfect. Nobody is. Anyways, love to hear from ya'll. Let me know if you have some ideas and stuff that you wanna see!*_**


	9. chapter 9

08/13/18 It has been brought to my attention that chapter 6 just suddenly ends and after looking, I realized that a big chunk of the chapter didn't post for some reason. So instead of redoing chapter 6, I am have posted the part that didn't post as chapter 7 and making chapter 7 into chapter 8. Before you read this, make sure you go back and read the new chapter 7. It picks up right where six left off. So sorry about that*

 _I'm standing in a large field full of daisies and wildflowers._

 _The sun is shining through the trees, casting it's rays over the field highlighting the bugs that are floating and jumping flower to flower. I look around me as I hear a faint cry echoing through the field. Lily. Where is she? I frantically start running around the field but I can't seem to find her. "LILY!!?" I frantically yell out, spinning as the cry echoes from behind me. "Oh my God! LILY!" I yell spinning again hoping to spot something in the field that will alert me to where she is. Suddenly I catch a glimpse a hint of pink and purple amongst the while and yellow. "Lily." I whisper before rushing over to it. Finally the crying stops echoing and is centered right in front of me and coming from under the blanket. She's screaming from under it as I bend down to pick her up but as I reach down to move the blanket from off top of her, the crying stops and she isn't under the blanket when I move it. Quickly turning around looking for her, I freeze. It feels as if someone has thrown me into a pool filled with ice water._

 _"Brandon?" I stand up and look at the scene before me and bring my hands to my mouth as my eyes blur with tears. He turns to face me and in his arms is our Lily wrapped in the pink and purple blanket that I had previously picked up. "Wha-? I don't understand…" I whisper as I take a closer step toward them. "What is going on?" I ask coming to a stop before him, I'm not able to see Lily._

 _"This is your fault Lacey." He's crying. What was my fault?_

 _"I don't understand. What was my fault?" I question._

 _"Don't act like you don't know what you did. Or should I say what you didn't do?" He snarls at me as tears slide down his face._

 _"Brandon, please tell_ _me what I did wrong? What didn't I do?" I beg him, trying to get a glimpse of Lily._

 _"You didn't save us. You left me to die, get taken down by that herd so you could get away. Then you couldn't even protect our daughter? What kind of wife and mother does that to her family?" he yells angrily at me._

 _"I had no choice to do that Brandon, you know that. You told me to run. You were bit anyways. You know I couldn't stay there. What happened to Lily? What's wrong with her?" I question as tears spilled down my eyes._

 _"Why don't you see for yourself!?" he yells pulling the blanket off of Lily. I look down at her and back away as wails of sorrow leave me._

 _"No!!! No no no no no. Not my Lily! Oh baby girl!!!!" I scream falling to my knees. The image of my daughters cloudy grey eyes looking up at me as her grey little fingers reach to me for food. Instead of her little baby cries, she's growling. I cry and clench my hands to my chest, feeling like I was having a heart attack._

 _'Her heart rate is rising.'_

 _Looking back up at Brandon with tears blurring my eyes, he no longer looks like the Brandon I remember. Now he has chunk missing out of his arms, neck, legs, torso and is covered in blood and grime. I back up and shake me head as he steps toward me._

 _"This is what you did Lacey, this is all because of you."_

 _"No! I tried. I tried to so hard to protect the both of you! I swear!"_

 _"Well you didn't try hard enough!!" He growls. I continue to back up on my hands, while shaking my head and crying._

 _"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Oh god I'm sorry." He opens his mouth, but he doesn't say anything. Instead he lets out a loud growls and blood pours out of his mouth as he lurches toward me. I raise my hands up to protect myself and scream out._

"Lacey! Hey! You're ok! Open your eyes." My eyes pop open and I shoot up into a sitting position. Gasping for breath I look around me. Feeling hands on my arms, I instantly push them off of me and back into the wall that is next to me. "Lacey, it's ok. It was just a dream. You're safe." I look at the person who was speaking to me and instantly recognize Rick, Hershel, Carol and Michonne. Rick and Hershel being the closest. My breathing is still coming as gasps and my chest feels tight as I realize I'm covered in sweat.

"You are ok now Lacey. Whatever you were dreaming about…its over now." I look over at Hershel as he was speaking to him and collapse right as he finishes. Landing face first on the pillows that was near his leg, covering my face as I start sobbing. I haven't cried like this since the night that I lost Brandon. I feel hands on my back, patting comfortingly. I cry like that for a few minutes before sitting up and wiping my eyes onto the sleeve of my shirt. The four of them remain silent, patiently waiting for me to compose myself. Finally I'm calm enough to form words.

"I-I saw Bran-Brandon." I explain looking up at Rick who nods his head as Hershel takes my hand and Carol joins me on the bed, placing a comforting hand on my arm. "It was ni-nice at first. This beautiful field covered in flowers, the sun was sh-shining and then I heard a baby crying." I pause as a hiccup leaves me and suck in a deep breath as I try to hold off more sobs. "I star-started searching th-the field and couldn't find anything, but I found Lily's blan-blanket. She disappeared when I lifted it and when I turned around, h-h-he was standing there. Hol-holding her. He started saying all these awful things to me. Sa-saying that I cou-couldn't pro-protect them. I kept asking his what he meant and he p-pulled the blanket off of her and she…." A whimper forces it's way out as I think about what I saw next. "She was a walker." I squeak out. Carol gasps and wraps her arms around me, pulling me into her chest to let me cry. The only sound that was in the room were my sobs and sniffles. I eventually manage to pull myself together enough to sit up. "Wh-where is she? Where is Lily? Is she ok?" I ask frantically looking around.

"She's perfectly fine. She is currently in the next cell with Maggie sleeping." Michonne explains from her spot near the door. I nod my head and sigh in relief.

"Wanna tell us the rest of your dream or leave it at that?" Rick asks.

"I freaked out and backed away not wanting to believe it. When I looked back up at Brandon he was covered in bites and was missing chunks over almost all of his body and had blood gushing out of him. Then he started growling like a walker and coming at me. Before he got to me, that's when I woke up." I rush to finish.

"Well, you're ok and safe. Lily is perfectly safe. Not a single scratch on her." Hershel reassured squeezing my right hand. I nod my head and sniffle before looking to Rick.

"What happened after I passed out? The last thing is remember was an arrow flying across the field and walkers falling along with loud shots."

"Well…Rick, Daryl and Merle were the closest to you both so they rushed to you as quick as they could. Took out walkers as they went. When we all so you go down, we all through the worst. We couldn't see you because the grass was so tall. While they were doing that Glenn, Tyreese and Michonne all got in the truck and sped down to where you were. By that time, the guys had taken out all the walkers." Carol says.

"Who is Merle?" I ask confused.

"He is unfortunately Daryl's brother." Rick answers.

"Wait…is he the same one that was working with the Governor, took Glenn and Maggie and shot Michonne in the leg?"

"One in the same. He and Daryl showed up during the governor's visit. Got him locked up in a cell above the shower cell." He explains. I nod my head.

"Ok, so what happened next?"

"Daryl and I finished off the walkers just as we reached you. Lily was crying up a storm and we found you unconscious. We saw the blood on your leg and our first thought was that you were bit and passed out from the pain or something. I quickly got Lily off of you and handed her to Hershel who was in the truck where he looked her over while we tried to look at your leg. Sorry about your pants by the way, had to cut the legs up to check for bites." He smirks.

"Nice flower tattoo by the way." Michonne teases making everyone chuckle.

"After we were sure you didn't have any bites, we loaded you up into the back of the truck and brought you here." Hershel finished the story.

"How long was I out?"

"Just under three hours. I had to bring the girls in one so they could eat. We couldn't get you to wake up for anything. Rolled you to your side and laid them just under your breasts so it was easier for them." Carol says. I nod my head and look down at my shirt as if I would find my breasts just hanging out for everyone to see.

"Is everyone else ok?" I question looking around. "I know we lost Axel, saw him go down right after the first shot." I whisper looking over at Carol who looks at me and frowns before rubbing my arm.

"No, just some bumps and bruises from ducking to find cover. We took care of Axel already, didn't want to wait. Actually got most of the walkers taken care of. Glenn, Tyreese, Allen and Daryl are currently re-enforcing the gate." Hershel answers. I nod my head just as a quiet cry comes from the door way, making us all look up. Standing in the door way is Carl, hat and all, holding a whimpering Lily.

"I was sitting with her for Maggie while she went to clean Judith up from her number two." He explains rocking from side to side.

"Bring her in son." Rick whispers moving back and gesturing toward him. I can feel my heart start to race and Rick takes her before handing her over to me. I take her into my arms before pulling the blanket off of her and start searching for bites, scratches, bruises, bumps, anything to tell me that she was one-hundred percent ok. Satisfied when I didn't find any, I wrap her in my arms and pull her closer to me before lower my face into her hair and place several kisses on every inch of skin I can reach.

"You ok Lacey?" I look up at Carl who has asked me and nod my head smiling.

"I am now. Thanks for asking kiddo." I whisper. He nods his head before taking a step forward and wrapping and arm around my neck in a hug. I look over his shoulder at Rick and the shock that covers his face as he looks between us makes me smile. Reaching up with one hand, I Pat Carl on the back and tickle his side, hoping he was ticklish there. He instantly jerks back and laughs.

"Unfair. Last time I try to hug you." He playfully glares at me.

"Doubt it." Everyone laughs as the mood is instantly lifted.

"Hey, guys. Dinner is done." Sasha whispers peaking into the room. She gasps when she sees me sitting up on the bed, holding Lily. "About time you're up sleeping beauty. Get enough beauty sleep?" she teases.

"Never." I laugh back as we all stand up to head out to the common area to eat. As I walk out, Sasha puts a hand on my arm making me pause.

"Im really glad you're ok." We smile at each other before following the others. As we enter the main area, shouts of happiness and excitement make me jump as I'm swarmed with hugs and Pat's on the back from everyone. All telling me how happy they are that I was ok. Daryl sits of to the side by himself watching everyone, eating his dinner. I make my way over to him and stop about two feet from him making him pausing his eating. He looks up at me briefly before looking back down.

"We haven't had many conversations, but I am really grateful for what you did out there. If you, Rick and your brother hadn't been close to us, I don't think we would be here. I just wanted to say that I really appreciate it." I say before turning to walk away after he nods his head. I join the others that are spread around the room with bowls of various foods talking amongst themselves. The rest of the evening is uneventful as Rick and Daryl are on watch with Tyreese and Allen. After feeding the girls once more, I get them settled into the makeshift cribs next to my bed and they fall asleep next to each other. I grab a change of clean clothes and toss the dirty ones into a pile in the corner before using the water bottle to clean my face, armpits, privates and get dressed in the clean clothes and climb into bed.

Author's note! So this was a filler. I am trying to keep everything interesting but I didn't have any great ideas for this chapter. Let me know what you would like to see and what your opinions are on Lacey.*


	10. chapter 10

*Why is nobody reviewing??? _sigh*_

The next morning the majority of the group focuses on fixing up the gate to the fence, make sure it can stand on its own. Feeling hungry, I make my way out of my cell with Lily in my arms only to be stopped by Rick. "How you feelin'?" he asks.

"Um, I'm ok for the most part. Had another nightmare last night, didn't get much sleep." I explain sadly. He nods his head and looks down at his feet. "How are you doing?" I ask. I know that he has been having a hard time since losing Lori. Add the stress of the potential war with the Governor, making sure there is enough food and water for everyone, and taking care of two kids in this world…anyone would be ready to pull their hair out.

"I um…I honestly don't know. Feel like everything just keep piling up right when something good happens. Before finding the prison, we moved around more than not. We were pretty much starving. Carl tried to eat dog food at one point just to get something to eat, but then we found this place. Thought everything was going to be alright and then it turned to shit." He answers looking around. I nod my head, completely understanding what that was like.

"Sometimes you cant have the good without the bad." I softly smile at him and he nods. Lily starts to wiggle around in my arms drawing our attention to her. "I know that with everything going on, it's tough being leader I can imagine." I whisper as he nods.

"Yeah, at times it can be." We fall into silence for a while before he clears his throat. "Im gonna check in with Glenn and Tyreese, see where we're at with the fence and gate. We're gonna have a meeting in an hour or so."

"Ok. Also, I was wondering if later you and I can talk about what happened?"

"Um, yeah. I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Just so much going on, it slipped my mind." He explains becoming nervous.

"I get it. Like I said, we can talk later. I'm gonna grab a bite to eat right now."

"Ok." He turns around and we head to the common area before parting ways. Him outside to check in with the guys and me toward Carol who made me a bowl of oatmeal.

"So…" she starts before cutting off.

"So…?" I ask grabbing a spoon and looking at her confused.

"I have noticed a certain leader going to your cell a lot more lately. See the two of you talking quietly together." She smirks adding a teaspoon of sugar and cinnamon to my bowl for me, it's how I usually eat it.

"Well I am feeding his daughter." I reply shrugging. Not really sure what she is getting at.

"Mhmm. Is that all it is?" she smirks deeper before placing a hand on her hip. "You know that the same rules don't apply anymore like they used to in the old world."

"Carol, he just lost his wife. I highly doubt he is trying to jump into bed or any type of relationship that fast."

"Well, people grieve in different ways. Plus, Lori and Rick couldn't have been more separated when we got here. I'm sure that if things were like they used to be, they'd probably be divorced. Nobody wanted to bring it up for obvious reasons but we could all tell. Rick was happy at the beginning of all this but here lately, he has become so miserable." Carol says sadly stirring her spoon in her food.

"Well losing his wife, even if they were separated, couldn't have helped." I reply. I really don't want anyone to think that I am trying to jump into bed with him or something.

"I'm just saying, it's not such a bad thing to find comfort from someone else after losing a loved one."

"Carol, I really am not trying to start anything with the man that just lost his wife and is obviously taking it hard. Even if they didn't talk or anything the last several months, they were married for a while I'm sure and he obviously feels guilty for what happened to her. I'll say this once and please don't tell anyone else. Something did happen with Rick and it was actually an accident since the kiss was meant for his cheek as a thanks but he turned his head and it got a little heated. He seemed shocked and nervous and we haven't talked about it. I need him to know that I wasn't trying anything." I tell her in a low voice so the others that were walking about us didn't here.

"Ok, but you gotta keep me in the loop. It been a while since we had some good gossip to talk about. The last time we had anything worth talking about was Glenn and Maggie having sex in the cab of the truck and being caught by Hershel only because the truck was squeaking." She laughs obviously thinking back to that event.

"If anything happens in the future, you will be the first to know." I assure her. Her smile reaches up toward her ears as she claps her hands like a child. "You're such a child." I laugh smiling at her.

 ***Later in cell block***

The majority of us have gathered in the cell block to further discuss what the plan was with the Woodbury situation. Sasha and Tyreese had volunteered to go on watch so we could have this discussion. "We're not leaving." Rick says pulling a gun from the bag on the floor, checking it for bullets then sliding it over his shoulder. He is obviously frustrated about the entire situation.

"We can't stay here Rick." Hershel says from his spot on the stairs.

"This is the best place we have had in a long time. This is the longest we have been able to stay in one area without having to run because of herds. I'll be damned if I let a one-eyed psychopath take this from us." I can understand where Rick is coming from, this is the safest place I have been in a while, well until yesterday anyways. But I also can't help but thinking that maybe this isn't the best place. Maggie scoffs quietly from where she and Carl are standing near the door.

"What is there's another sniper? Wood pallets won't stop one of those rounds." She says sticking her handgun in the back of her pants before crossing her arms.

"We can't even go outside. I mean look what happened to Lacey." Beth speaks up from above me as she stands on the landing with Carol and Daryl.

"Not during the day we can't." Carol is always trying to be optimistic.

"Rick says we're not leaving, then we're not leaving." Glenn basically yells from the doorway to his cell. It's clear that he wants revenge for what was done to him, Maggie and also yesterday. I'm not really sure if this possible war is the best way to go.

"No, better to live like rats." I look over at Merle, who I have yet to actually have a conversation with, but from what I have been told about him I don't think that I actually want to.

"You got a better idea?" Rick asks turning to look at the one handed man that was currently standing at the cell block door that divides the cells from the common area.

"Yeah, should have slipped out of here last night. Lived to fight another day. Lost that window thought." He explains as it were that easy.

"And what if he has his men guarding every road around here? Huh? Then what? If we even tried last night and he has this place under watch, some of us wouldn't even be here probably." I say looking at him.

"We ain't scared of that prick!" Daryl growls above us.

"Ya'll might not be, but after what he was capable of doing yesterday in the matter of ten minutes…I am." I say to him. I bounce Lily up and down in my arms to try to keep myself calm. I don't want to tell anyone how I am actually terrified after what happened yesterday. That was the closest I have come to dying since all this started and I was not ready to put myself into a situation like that against anytime soon. Especially if that meant endangering Lily, and even Judith.

"Ya'll should be. What happened yesterday was just him ringing the doorbell. We got the walls, but he's got the guns and the numbers."

" **SEE**! Even he says we don't have a chance. He was with this nut job for a while, he knows how he operates and if he says we can't win this and that we should tuck tail and run, then I'm with him on this." I pretty much yell, feeling my fear and anxiety slowly taking over.

"Ya should listen to her. He don't even have to attack right away. Hell, he could starve us out of here if he took to the right ground. We'd be sitting ducks." Merle says looking from me to the rest of the group.

"Lets put him in the other cell block." Maggie yells obviously pissed at Merle.

"No, he's got a point." Daryl says agreeing with his brother.

"This is all on you. You started this." She yells stomping toward the door that Merle was leaning against.

"What's it matter whose fault it is? What do we do?" Beth asks coming down the stairs. I look over at Rick and I can tell that the pressure of everyone having a different opinion is getting to him.

"I said we should leave. Now Axel's dead. Lacey and Lily almost died out in the field. We can't just sit here." Hershel says trying to reason with Rick but he turns and starts to walk away. Hershel is quick to grab his crutches and launches himself up onto his one leg. **_"GET BACK HERE!"_** he yells out at Rick making him stop. But also causes Judith and Lily to startle and start to cry out. "You're slipping Rick, we've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this wasn't a democracy, now live up to it. I put my families life in your hands when we left the farm. Lacey just had Lily, not to mention Judith has already lost her mother. She still needs her father. Get your head cleared and do something." He says. Rick nods his head but doesn't say anything before he continues on his way out of the cell block.

 _Now what do we do?_ I ask myself.

 ***A while later***

"There ya go girls. That should keep you full for a while." I laugh fixing my bra and shirt back into the proper place.

"They are eating more now." Beth laughs holding Judith up over her shoulder to burp her.

"I know. There stomachs are growing. I can't wait till the day that they can start eating smashed food." I smile copying Beth and pat Lily on the back. We talk for a while as we sit in the common area just talking. As I lay Lily down in the bed that her and Judith have been sharing for the last week, Rick walks in through the outer door and I quietly ask Beth if she could keep an eye on Lily for me which she nods her head to. I quickly follow after Rick, hoping that now is a good time to talk to him. "Hey, Rick." He stops and turns to me as I approach him.

"Hey, everything alright?" he asks.

"Oh yeah. I was wondering if I could talk to you?" I'm hesitant, hoping that he is up to it so we can get this out of the way.

"Sure, come with me." He says. I nod my head and follow him as he leads the way through the cell block and to the door at the end of the cell block. He quickly unlocks them and let's me pass through before following me in and closing it behind him, locking it back. I have never been to this area before so I stick close to him in the dark hallways so I don't lose him. All the while trying to think about what to say so nothing comes out the wrong way. "We can use the library." He says as we come to a stop outside of two double doors before pushing the door open for me. Walking in, the room is large and filled with shelves upon shelves of books. Faintly lit by the four windows that are on the opposite wall.

"Never suspected a prison to have a better library than the one that Athens has." I says gently laughing as I look around.

"Anytime you wanna read, let me know and we can come back and get you some books." He says nervously standing near one of the tables in the middle of the room.

"Ok. Thanks." I smile. We remain quiet for a while, not really knowing how to start the conversation. "So…" I whisper taking a small step toward him while tucking my hands into the back pockets of my jeans. He looks up at me and steps closer as well.

"Guess I should start this since I was the one to bring it up in the first place." Oh Lord, I feel like I'm on my first date. "I just wanted to say that I know that you probably weren't thinking clearly, I know you had a lot going through your mind with losing Lori recently and everything else. I also want to say that am I in no way going to think that anything is going to develop from that one kiss, unless you want it to but if not I completely get it. Even if that was the best kiss I have had in a long time and it felt good to have that kind of contact again. But I want to be one-hundred percent honest here. I find you extremely attractive. Like really really attractive and I never thought that I would ever actually feel those sort of feelings and emotions again. Certainly not in this type of world." I pause to gauge his reaction before continuing. "But I have enjoyed the talks we have had and I enjoy your company a lot. I want you to decide what you want to happen here. If you want to forget that it ever happened; we can do that. if you want to take time before coming back to the topic and see how we feel then; we can do that as well. Either way I don't regret it even if it was unintentional." I look at him in the eyes and he nods his head.

"Ok." He simply says and I looked at him confused.

"Ok what?" I ask. He nods his head against before reaching out and pulling me toward him. He places his right around at the back of my neck and angles my face to lower his toward mine as he places his lips onto mine. Extremely confused and seriously shocked, I hesitantly place my hands on his chest and push away gently. "What are you saying? I'm confused. That's not really an answer." I laugh looking up at him.

"What I felt when we kissed in your cell, was a feeling I haven't felt in a long time. Lori and I weren't exactly a married couple anymore. We became so distant from each other that we were basically putting up with each other. I'll grieve her for a while because we were married for almost fifteen years and not to mention we had Carl. I feel guilty that I couldn't protect her. Even though we had our differences, she didn't deserve to die…especially not like that. But, I have thought about this more than I have actually thought about the situation with the Governor. I haven't been able to stop thinking about how kissing you felt. So, if you would like…lets deal with this governor stuff and see where we end up after this is all over." He says caressing my cheek with his thumb while his left hand holds my hands to his chest.

"Ok, that sounds like a reasonable plan. Plus, it's not like the old ways apply anymore. Some will say that we jumped into it. Oh, Carol knows something is up with us." He laughs and nods his head.

"I know. She has corned me a few times. She's really a big fan of you." He laughs and I can't help but join him.

"What has she said?" I ask stepping back and turning to hop up onto the top of the table next to us.

"She actually caught me looking at you several times as creepy as that sounds. She kept saying that it would be nice to have a leader that is happy again and not always so stressed out. Said that even if it was to get laid or find some sort of release."

"She pretty much said the same thing to me early today." I laugh feeling my face warm with a blush.

"I figured as much. I think she's bored." He laughs.

"She did say that there hasn't been any good gossip lately since the Maggie and Glenn moment in the truck can." I smile. He immediately burst out laughing and I can't help smiling at the site of the pure joy on his face. He looks years younger when he laughs like that and he has a sparkle in his eye. Nice to see people when the world isn't on their shoulders weighing them down.

"Yeah, they still haven't lived that down. Everybody refuses to ride in that truck now since we all know what has taken place in it."

"Now that I think about it, don't think I'll be getting in it any time soon." I laugh shaking my head. Once we calm down, the quiet that feels the room in comfortable but when I look back up at Rick's face I can see a serious look take over his features. "What's wrong?" I question.

"There was something else that I wanted to ask you as well."

"Ok, what is it?"

"With talk of a possible war about to go down with the Governor and his men, I know you don't want to be involved in it and want to keep Lily safe which I understand and support one-hundred percent. If I honestly didn't think that this was the best place for us to be, then I'd have us packed up and already heading away but I don't think we will find anything this good out there. At least not anytime soon. I mean it took us month just to find this place. But what I wanted to ask you was, if anything happens that could possibly put Carl and Judith in any type of danger, could you take them away with you and Lily? I know I can ask the rest of the group but I feel like Judith would have a better chance staying with you considering you're feeding her and I know Carl will want to look out for her as well. I don't know the outcome of what may or may not happen but I have to have some kind of plan to keep my kids safe. That probably makes me sound selfish for not thinking about the others safety, but I think that they would take care of themselves is anything were to happen but with Carl being so young and Judith only being a baby, their safety has to come before everyone else's and my own." I look up at him shocked and slightly honored that he would trust me to take care of his kids if anything were to happen that made us have to abandon the prison and everyone else.

"You barely know me and you trust me with your kids? Don't get me wrong I am glad you trust me enough and everything, I just want to make sure that you won't rethink this and have someone else do it. I don't want anyone to think that I'm trying to take Lori's place, especially Carl."

"I get what you're saying and I don't want you to feel pressured into doing it. Nobody can ever replace Lori but I know I can trust you because I think if you were in my shoes, you'd do the same thing. Make sure Lily was as safe as possible even if that meant miles away with someone." He says. "And as for Carl, I will have a talk with him so he understands the plan if something happens."

"Ok, um yeah. I can do that. Do you think it would be a good idea to maybe get someone else in on that plan as well? Just to make sure we get away and some place safe just in case?" I suggest crossing my arms over my chest.

"Ill think about it. But after we hit up the Walmart when all this is taken care of, I wanna keep a car near the rear gate. Keep a gas can in the trunk along with other supplies so you can make a quick get away."

"Ok, that sounds good. Just so we are on the same page… right now we are kinda on the back burner until the prison is safe and the issue with the jackass is taken care of and if shit hits the ceiling ill leave with the kids?"

"Yep."

"Ok. Well if anything happens anytime soon that makes me take them and go, I'll head to the Walmart and lock ourselves in the room I was staying in."

"Ok. That's a plan." He smiles grasping my head in both hand before leaning down to kiss me again, this time a little more passionately.

 _*Ok so there is more Rick/Lacey in this chapter. I know some people will have different opinions on this chapter about them getting close to soon. But I feel like that the old rules don't apply anymore. Yeah he just lost Lori, yeah he is still mourning the loss of her, but I feel like after the farm and Rick killing Shane and him finding out that he and Lori had been sleeping together kind of pushed them away. Then with the stress of trying to keep the group together, safe, fed and alive…I feel that it would put an even bigger wedge between the two of them. I think if anyone was in a situation like that and were stuck with an ex or whatever, they would still be civil with one another because it would be the best way to survive. But like I said in this chapter, if this were happening in the Old world where they could get a divorce or something then they would be. But let me know what you think of this chapter and if you have any concerns. Really want to give you what you want haha.*_


	11. chapter 11

The last few days have been surprisingly kinda boring. We've all been hunkered down inside for the most part. Rick, Daryl and Glenn have been discussing the plan for when the governor attacks next. Merle keeps saying that he is more than likely going to strike soon so we have to be ready. Which is why I am currently talking to Beth about Rick's plan for the girls. I gave her the run down of the plan that he and I talked about in the library and she seems to be ok with it. Knowing that Hershel would be going with us helped her agree that it was the best choice. We were talking about what would need to be packed for when we leave when suddenly Carl comes rushing in out of breath. " **DAD**! ANDREA…IS…OUTSIDE!" he says out of breath. Rick and Daryl are the first to move. Rick looks over at Beth and I as he is heading toward the door that leads to the courtyard.

"Keep the girls in your cell." He says grabbing up an automatic rifle. Beth and I look at each other before quickly getting up and heading to the cell block. Getting to my cell, I lay Lily who is sleeping, down into the cot for her before turning to Beth.

"I'll be right back." I tell her before grabbing my handgun then dashing out to the courtyard just as Michonne heads out. Rick, Daryl and Merle head to the gate with their guns raised and I follow Michonne who stands behind the bleachers with her sword and a rifle as well.

 **"ARE YOU ALONE**?" Rick yells as Andrea starts to approach the gate.

"Open the gate!" she yells.

 **"ARE YOU ALONE!?"** Rick asks again since she didn't answer. Again, she doesn't answer as she reaches the gate. Rick tosses the keys to Daryl who unlocks it and Rick quickly grabs her and slams he to the tall fence next to the gate as it's slammed shut by Merle before the new walkers. That was a new problem we have been dealing with, the outer gate fell yesterday morning and the field has once against been overrun with walkers. As Rick starts to quickly check Andrea for any other weapons, Michonne steps out from out hiding place and I quickly follow. I lower my gun but stay alert. **"Get on the ground**!" Rick barks at Andrea, grabbing her arm and shoving her down to her knees roughly. "I asked if you were alone?" he growls at her.

 **"I am**!" she finally answer with her hands in the air next to her head. Rick grabs the bag she is wearing around her chest and tosses it a few feet away from them before bending down next to her ear. Saying something to low for me to hear from where I am standing, before grabbing her arm and pulling her to her feet. Rick leads he toward the block we lived in and the rest of us following. Being one of the last to enter, I quickly slide the heavy door shut and Merle locks the door behind me. Quickly making my way across the room, I stand next to Michonne behind Rick at the entry way of the cell block as Hershel joins us.

"I can't believe this. Where's Shane?" Andrea asks after hugging Carol while looking around. When nobody answers, she looks around again. "And Lori?"

"She had a girl. Lori didn't survive." Hershel explains to her.

"Neither did T-dog." Maggie whispers loud enough for everyone to hear. I watch as Andrea look to Carl with a look of grief on her face.

"Im so sorry. Carl." Carl lowers his head to look at the ground in front of him. "Rick, I- -" she starts to take a step forward, only for him to step back away from her. I quickly step up to his left side and gently grip his bicep and squeeze, as if to tell him it's ok. He looks at me out of the corner of his eyes before nodding subtly.

"You all live here?"

"Here and in the cell block." Glenn answers from his spot near Maggie on the other side of the room.

"There?" she asks pointing toward the cell block and takes a couple steps forward. I quickly move around Rick and block her from going any further. "May I go in?" she asks looking at Rick.

"I won't allow that." He answers coming to stand behind me as to solidify my stance.

"Im not an enemy Rick."

"We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down our fence with a truck and shot us up." I watch a look of shock appear on her face at this news.

"He said you shot first."

"Well, he's lying."

"He killed an inmate who survived in here." Hershel says.

"We liked him, he was one of us." I look over at Daryl who was sat on the metal table next to us

"I didn't know anything about that." Andrea says crossing her arms and bringing a hand up to cover her mouth.

"Not to mention his stunt with the walkers almost got my daughter and myself killed." I speak up. She quickly snaps her head to me and looks shocked at what I said.

"I swear I didn't know anything about any of this. As soon as I found out, I came.

"I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot out."

"That was days ago." Glenn nearly yells.

"Like I said, I came as soon as I could." She looks around at everybody's faces before turning to look at Michonne who had moved over to the cage that was used for the weapons. "What did you tell them?" she asks her.

"Nothing." She replies.

"I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?"

"He almost killed Michonne and he would have killed us as well." Glenn said defensively.

"With his finger on the trigger. Isn't he the one who took you? Who beat out? I'm not trying to excuse what Philip has done, but I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out." Listening to her makes me wonder is she has Stockholm syndrome or something.

" _Is she delusional?"_ I matter to myself but Daryl grunts having heard me from his spot just to my left.

"There is nothing to work out. We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will." Andrea quickly whips around to look at Rick with a look of disbelief.

"We can settle this." She really is getting desperate.

"There is no settling this. I don't know you but you have got to be either suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or you're just completely delusional. You think after what he has done to this group, after nearly getting a newborn killed, after torturing Glenn and Maggie, that everything can be all hunky dory? This world is messed up enough as it is and it doesn't need monsters like him." At this point I have gotten everyone's attention.

"Who are you?" she asks looking me up and down.

"Im the pissed of mother of the baby he almost killed because he has a hard on for this group." I growls stepping closer to her only to be pulled back by Rick. His arm is wrapped around my waist as he pulls me backwards away from Andrea.

"Easy killer. Can you keep Judy with you? I don't want her near her or Lily." Rick whispers in my ear. I nod my head before glaring at Andrea and turning to make my way back to my cell. Upon entering I see Beth sitting on the bed with the girls next to her and she is singing. I quickly give her a rundown of what was happening in the other room so she is caught up. Deciding that the girls need to be fed since my breasts were starting to hurt a tad, I quickly unbutton my shirt and get situated on my bed and bring them to me. As we sit on the bed in silence, we can hear the conversation with Andrea starts to get heated.

" **IF YOU WANNA MAKE THIS RIGHT THEN GET US INSIDE**!" Beth and I look at each other as Rick yells.

" **NO**!"

"Then we have nothing further to talk about."

" **THERE ARE INNOCENT PEOPLE**!" Andrea yells. The sound of the cell block door banging shut echoes through the small area and the sound of boots thudding against the floor draws our attention as they come closer to the cell. Rick appears in the doorway and leans against it.

"What's going on?" I asks looking up at him.

"Did you already talk to her about the plan?" he asks.

"Yes, she did." Beth answers.

"Ok, I want both of you to pack up your stuff and the girls' stuff as well. As soon as she leaves, we are going to check out the Equinox and get it packed up. Carl and Hershel will be going as well with you four. Sasha volunteered to go as well to help." He explains scratching his brow.

"Is it happening soon?" Beth asks nervously.

"I'm not sure on that. But I would rather be safe than sorry. Have the car ready in case you guys need to leave in a hurry."

"Ok, I'll go start getting my bag together. I assume my dad already knows?" she asks standing up. At Rick's nod, she quickly leaves to head to her cell. I look at Rick as he sighs and walks in, taking a seat on the stool that I had in my room.

"Carl ok with this?" I ask quietly knowing the boy wants more than anything to help as much as he can. He is in such a hurry to grow up and not be treated as a kid and it's so hard to remember sometimes that he is just a kid.

"Not really. He wants to stay and help here, but I just can't put him into that kind of danger. He is in enough danger as it is and this is something I can do to keep him safe. Told him that if we wanted to win this thing then I could be worrying about his running around here when it's happening. Said that he would be an even bigger help by protecting you guys. I explained that if anything happened to me during this, that he would have to be there for Judith. She can't lose her entire family."

"How did he react to that?" I question looking down at Lily as she hits her tiny first against my chest.

"He actually agreed to that, even though he was still mad that he was being sent away."

"What about Sasha? How'd that happen?" He chuckles lightly.

"Her and Tyreese actually cornered me yesterday asked if I planned on sending you and the girls away. They said that they wanted to help anyway they can and if that meant leaving to protect the girls, then they would do it. Both said they owed you for vouching for them."

"What about Ben and Allen? I am starting to regret vouching for Allen. Caught him arguing with Tyreese the other day until Tyreese knocked him onto his ass."

"That explains the black eye. But I agree, I'm starting to think that he is going to be more of a liability than anything. I am gonna give him the choice to stay or leave, but if he stays he's gonna help out. No more of this bitchin and moaning when someone asks for his help." I nod my head, completely agreeing with him.

"Have you told the rest of the group the plan yet?" I ask looking down at the girls only to find them asleep.

"I've mentioned some of it to Daryl, Maggie and Glenn. Think Maggie told everyone else, not really sure." He reaches out and caresses Judith's soft head as she sleeps. "Want me to take her?" he asks.

"Sure, just hold her still so I can fix my shirt. Don't be trying to sneak a peek, Officer." I smirk making him chuckle. He reaches under her and holds her so I am still covered enough to fix my bra and shirt while supporting Lily with my other hand. Once I am all fixed I give him the ok and he pulls her to his chest and rocks her gently.

"How has she been doing? I know with the formula she was getting sick a lot, has that stopped?" he asked referring to Judith.

"Well she still spits up, but that's normal. I think she is actually eating more than Lily sometimes." I laugh quietly.

"I can tell, she has gotten a little chunky. But I guess that's better than being starved and boney." He smirks looking at me. "You doing alright? Getting enough to eat to keep up with them?"

"I'm ok. I am only eating a spoon full more than everyone every two days, don't think its fair to take extras. But its ok. I am making sure to stay fed and so is Hershel." I explain. We look at each other for a couple minutes just enjoying the near silence. Seeing a sudden spark in his eye, he leans closer to me and plants a gentle kiss on the corner of my mouth before sitting back. That is the most contact we have allowed ourselves to have even though we established the fact that there is something between us. Not only is he still getting through losing Lori but I am still healing from having Lily. I have heard that most woman can take up to six weeks or longer to heal but I think I am almost there. The bleeding has slowed down to just a little spotting for the most part and I couldn't be more thankful. Besides that, neither one of us is ready to let it be known about our situation, especially since we have more things to worry about like the looming dark cloud over our heads.

"I'm gonna go ask Carol to watch Judy for a while. Give you time to get your stuff together."

"Aye, Aye captain." I tease as he rolls his eyes and turns to leave before pinching my side gently.

*A few hours later*

"I think that is pretty much all of my stuff except for a few things that I might need. I haven't gotten the girls stuff together yet, mostly because they don't have much and we might still need more of it. Think I will keep a bag close and all of the baby stuff together so I can just swipe it into the bag and go." Zipping my bag I turn to Beth and Carl who were entertaining Lily.

"That sounds like a good idea. Dad recommended just keeping everything in the bag and get it when we need it, but its more simpler to just swipe and go." Beth says smiling down at Lily as Beth pokes her belly and makes the little girl squeal.

"I am going to take this out to the car, probably grab a couple knives and handguns as well. Mind watching her?" I ask looking at Carl who shakes his head. Grabbing my bag, I head out to the common area and to the weapons cage to grab the two hand guns Rick pointed out for me to grab earlier in the day. Slipping them into my bag, I hide them under my clothes before heading out to the car we will be using when its time to go and tossing it into the trunk. I can see Daryl, Merle and Michonne standing near the fence that leads to the field, talking amongst themselves. Michonne looks over and waves and I lift mine up to wave back. As I make my way back into the cell block I damn near freeze at what I see. Carol and Andrea talking, while Andrea is holding Judith. Carol knows that Rick didn't want the little girl near Andrea, still not sure if we can fully trust her. Doing as Rick asked, I start to make my way over to them to get Judith. "Hey Carol. Think its time I take Judith." I eye Andrea closely before looking down to Judith to make sure she is ok.

"Why? She's ok with us." Andrea says moving a bit away.

"Its time for her to eat." I explain trying to keep my cool. I reach out to take her but she moves away again.

"Then we can make her a bottle. I am capable of feeding her." I can feel myself starting to get pissed at her so I bite my tongue to remind myself that she will be leaving soon anyways.

"Unless you are able to squeeze your tits and milk em, I don't see you being able to do anything for her. Now give her here." I growl glaring at her. I can tell that Carol is feeling awkward by the situation as she tries to calm the situation down.

"How about I bring her down to you in a few minutes Lacey? Let Andrea have a few more minutes."

"I cant. Rick asked me to keep Judith away from her and I said I would. Plus you know I try to feed that girls at the same time so they are on the same feeding schedule. Now, please hand her over so I can start feeding them." Trying to remain calm, I hold out my hands toward Andrea.

"You mean you breastfeed her? But she isn't yours." Wow! Didn't know we had captain obvious here with us.

"Thank you for stating the obvious and its not any of your concern about if she is breastfed or formula fed."

"Is there a problem here?" The sudden deep voice startles us and I turn to look at the bottom of the stairs to see Daryl glaring over my shoulder at Andrea.

"Nope. Its ok Daryl." Carol says. I turn to her and she her taking Judith from Andrea and handing her to me. Pulling her toward me, I swiftly turn and start to head down the stairs only stopping when I am next to Daryl.

"Thank you." He nods his head subtly and I walk to my cell with Judith smirking to myself.

Its been a couple hours since Andrea left and I could tell that everyone was happy to see her go. I managed to bathe, change, feed and get the girls to sleep while everyone did what they needed to do. Whether it be bathing, napping, organizing, securing or on watch. Once the girls were asleep, I joined the rest of the group out in the open area of the cell block where Glenn was dishing out some deer stew from the meat of the deer that Daryl and Merle caught yesterday. Just as I grab my bowl, Rick joins us and grabs everyone attention. "I know that seeing Andrea today was unexpected but I want to make sure that nobody is having second thoughts about what is inevitably going to happen." He looks around at everyone but nobody speaks. "Ok, since we are still on the same page…I want to clarify what the plan is going to be. Either tonight or tomorrow, I want everything packed up. If you don't need it, pack it up and put it in either the truck or the SUV."

"Thought we weren't leaving?" Tyreese asks confused.

"We aren't, unless we have no other choice. I want everything pack up so that way we can take it to where the others who are leaving will be. Also, there has been a change to the plan. We are going to make it look like we packed up and booked it out of here. The Governor will most likely bring his men in here to see if we are hiding but they wont find us. Tomorrow after everything is packed up, Daryl and I are going to gather some walkers into the deepest parts of the tombs. When the Governor goes down into them to look for us, they will be ambushed by the walkers. I need two people to hunker down in the boiler room and the generator room. They will have flash grenades on them and when the group goes down there, the blasts will lure the walkers to them. After that, it's a guarantee that they will try to flee. Glenn, I would like for you to be down at the loading docks waiting for when they come out. Maggie will be hiding up on the catwalk out of site. When they start to flee, I want the two of you to take out as many as you can." He explains looking at the two of them to see if they are ok with that plan. "

"We can wear the riot gear we found when we first got here. What about everyone else?" Glenn asks.

"Tyreese, Michonne, Merle, and Carol…I want you four to hide down in the halls that lead to the bathroom and library. They will more than likely split into two groups, so you four can handle the group that heads down that way. Daryl, Ben, Allen and I will be in each of the guard towers, hit them when they get into the field." The majority of the group agrees with the plan but Allen and Ben haven't said anything since Rick started talking. "But tonight, everyone will rest. There will be two people on watch on the catwalk, with a rotation every three hours. I am volunteering to take a longer shift."

"Glenn and I can take the first shift." Maggie says looking at Glenn who nods his head in agreement.

"I can take second." I volunteer. Before Rick can respond, Allen lets out a disgusting scoff, drawing everyone's attention to him.

"Got something to say?" Michonne asks him.

"I'm just shocked her majesty is volunteering to something. I don't see how she has gotten away with doing nothing while the rest of us do everything." He says angrily. "All she does is lay around and feed them damn brats."

"What the **hell** did you just say!?" I growl standing up from the stair I had been sitting on and stomping over to him.

"You heard me! How is it fair? Since the four of us have gotten here all I have seen you di is lay around like you are above us."

"Dad, stop." Ben whispers trying to pull him away.

"In case you forgot, she is the only reason why we are here." Sasha says glaring at the angry man.

" **I didn't even want to stay here!"** he yells turning to look at her.

"If you don't want to be here, then pack your shit and go. There's the door, nobody will be sad to see you go. The only reason why you have been here as long as you have was because I wanted to give you a chance and because I couldn't force Ben out there with an ignorant father who is hell bent on running. So if you want to leave, then go. But Ben, you are old enough to make your own decisions and are welcome to stay if you want. If you decide to leave with him, come back if you change your mind. Be gone by sunrise if you decide to leave." I growl at Allen before turning away and stomping toward my cell. Getting there, I feel myself fuming and try to calm myself down by pacing around the cell a couple times. I take my button up shirt off and hang it up on the top bunk before grabbing my wet wipes and clean my face, arms and chest off before slipping my boots off and laying down in bed.

I will be glad when all this shit is over and the only thing we will have to worry about are the walkers.

 ***I wasn't too sure about the chapter. i tried to get some drama and some Rick/Lacey stuff. i hope you all enjoy this chapter. i dont think i am feeling too confident with this story, so i might have to rush it so it can have an ending. it has a lot of reads so far but i wanna know if you think its worth continuing or not!!!! ***


	12. chapter 12

"Is everything loaded into the back?" Rick asks the group as we all stand around the SUV. Rick decided that a group of us would go to the Walmart today to check it out. He wants to make sure that everything is still the way I left it two weeks ago. Also to make sure that everything is closed off and secure at the front of it. Glenn thought it would be a good idea to divide into groups to go and learn the way there in case something goes wrong. That way is the group staying to fight has to leave, they can make their way to the store and meet us there.

"I think so. Are you Michonne and Carl still going to King County after this?" I question. Rick said that when he left there at the beginning of all of this, that the police station was still pretty well stocked with guns and ammo. Thought it was worth checking out even though it has been over a year. Carl basically informed him that he was going as well and didn't give him much of a choice. Said that he wants to go to a baby store that was down the street from the station to get some stuff for the girls. With everything that was happening today, we were up before dawn to get started.

"Yeah, if everything is still there then it will have all the guns we will need. Not to mention the ammo we are almost out of."

"Well let's get going. Sun will be up soon and we got a lot to do in a short amount of time." Maggie says from beside me. On this first trip to the store its Rick, Maggie, Daryl, Michonne, Carl and Myself. Then when we get back Daryl is going to take Tyreese, Hershel, Glenn, Beth and Carol. Merle said he don't need to go because he swears up and down that he would be able to find it with no trouble.

Unfortunately though, Allen and Ben were gone shortly after I stormed off to my cell last night. Sasha, Tyreese and Rick at least tried to convince them to leave this morning when the sun was up but Allen was hell bent on getting out of here. Rick said that Ben didn't really want to go but he also didn't want to abandon his dad, which I completely understand. Sadly thought, his dad was more than likely going to get them both killed.

"Ok. Lacey I want you up from with me so you can tell me the way to go." I nod at Rick and everyone loads up in to the car while Daryl heads to his bike.

"He does know that he is basically ringing the dinner bell, right?" I ask Rick after he climbs into the drivers seat.

"I brought the same fact up when we were on the road before we found the prison, conversation didn't go so well." He chuckles starting the car. Glancing behind me at the prison through the back window, I cant help but feeling worried. It was the first time since I got here that I was leaving. Not only was I leaving safety but I was also leaving Lily. Even though we have a plan, a number of things could go wrong.

"Don't worry. She'll be fine." Maggie smiles placing a reassuring hand on my arm. I smile back and turn back to face forward.

"Ok, so you gotta take the eighty-five to seventy-four and make a left. After that its about a fifteen minute drive to fifty-four. There is also a Home Depot that is in front of the store, we can use the supplies that are there as well later. I cleared it before I cleared Walmart. Apparently not many people have a need to wood and gardening at the end of the world." I joke making the group laugh.

The roads were pretty much clear of cars and walkers. At the beginning everyone was told to head to Atlanta so the majority of the citizens must have packed up and headed there before things got too bad. All around us was nothing but abandoned stores, gas stations, homes, schools and more. There was once when I would enjoying taking in the sites of a new place but now…its just a reminder of what the world has become and everything we have lost.

"Hey Lacey. What is the thing you miss most about the old world?" Carl asks from his seat between Maggie and Michonne. I turn slightly in my seat and look at him.

"Hmmm, that's a tricky one. Do you mean people, food, hobby or something else?" I ask.

"How about food. If you could have anything right now, what would you want to eat?"

"That's even more difficult." I smile making everyone laugh. "But if I had to just pick one, I would have to pick…a medium rare steak, baby red potatoes, homemade mac n cheese and for dessert I'd want peach cobbler with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. I could eat that everyday for the rest of my life if I could." I laugh, my mouth slightly watering. "What about you? What was the one meal you could eat for the rest of your life?" I ask. He takes a minute to think before perking up at his answer.

"Pizza with everything except mushrooms and olives. With a can of coke and that cheesy crazy bread that Little Caesars makes."

"That sounds delicious." Maggie smiles. "I would have to say my dad's meatloaf. He made the best meatloaf. Always made it with mashed taters, fresh corn from our neighbor Tim who lived down the road, gravy and homemade biscuits. Didn't really do dessert on meatloaf nights, everyone was always too full to eat anymore." Everyone laughs.

"What about you Rick?" I ask looking at him.

"Steak, eggs, home fries, bacon and a big glass of chocolate milk." He smirks looking at me. The rest of us laugh and I cant help but imagine seeing him sitting down at a kitchen table with his plate full of food and a chocolate milk mustache.

"Dad drank more chocolate milk than I did. Mom was always buying gallons of it saying that he was gonna turn into the dang cow if he kept drinking it." Carl laughs. I watch as his face full of joy quickly turns into one of sadness. I reach back and grasp his hand in comfort. He looks up at me and subtly nods his head before turning to Michonne. He proceeds to ask her the same question and she responds with cereal.

"Out of all the foods out there, you would want to eat cereal for the rest of your life?" he asks confused and shocked.

"More specifically, Lucky Charms. Breakfast always tastes better later, but cereal was my go to every night for a midnight snack." I chuckle as Carl starts questioning her about different things and turn back in my seat. Seeing as we were just about there, I check my gun to make sure the clip is full and make sure my knife if in the sheath on my hip.

"Nervous?" I look over at Rick to see him looking down at the gun in my lap.

"Yes and no. Just want this to go as smoothly as possible. No walkers or trouble. Really hoping everything is still there. I mean, I secured the doors at the front really well with carts and others stuff but if people are desperate enough to get inside, I am sure they could have. Where there's a will, there's way." He nods his head as he looks out the windshield. He flicks the turn signal on to make the left turn and I laugh loudly. "Did you just turn on the turn signal?" I ask with a hint of amusement in my voice. I watch as he looks down at the flashing arrow, out the windshield then back down before his face reddens and chuckle to himself.

"Old habits die hard apparently. Didn't even realize I did it." I giggle for a second before I realize we were slowing down at coming to a stop next to Daryl. "What do you think?" Rick asks him after he rolls the window down.

"I have only seen a couple walkers, can we get in the back door you walked about?" Daryl asks looking around Rick and at me. I look around quickly examining the area.

"We should be able to. It's how I got in and out but I mean if I could do it that easily then so could others. We would have to be prepared." I reply. He nods looks at the front of the store.

"Let's head to the back, back into it so we can make a quick get away if we have to." Rick says. Daryl nods and starts his bike back up and leads the way around the large building. "Everyone be ready. Don't know what we will find inside." As we round the side of the building to the back, I direct Rick to the correct door.

"It's the one with the ramp walkway up to it. The handle is hard to get, one of the reasons why I used this door. Took a while to figure out how to get it correctly." I inform them as Rick turns the car and backs it up at the end of the ramp before shutting it off and pocketing the keys. Daryl parks next to us and grabs his crossbow before sweeping the area just to make sure there aren't any walkers or dangers.

"Lead the way." Rick says pulling his gun from its holster as the rest of the group falls in line. As we get to the door, I grasp the handle and press my thumb onto the latch before using my other hand as an added force and grabbing the handle to jerk up on the handle. Jerk it back a couple times, the door makes a loud screeching sound that makes everyone cringe as it opens up and bangs against the metal railing that is surrounding the ramp.

"Sorry bout that. Forgot to mention that part." I sigh grabbing the flashlight that Maggie was holding out to me before stepping into the dark building. As everyone steps in, Daryl closes the door behind him and we all look to the left and right. "There is storage in both directions. I used tables, chairs, desks and a few other large things to block the left side. Didn't want to have to worry about getting surrounded from both sides if something happened. Only had to worry about what was coming from that side. Pretty much cleared everything from that side as well. That's were most of the dry foods and stuff were." I inform them, pointing the light in each direction as I was talking. "And this is where I stayed for a couple weeks. There are two doors but the door further down that way is locked and barricaded by a pop machine on the outside. Its close enough to the wall that you cant see the doorway of it." Everyone nods and I turn to push the door open behind me slowly, in case anyone was in there. Raising my flashlight and gun, I sweep the light across the room as everyone files in behind me.

"Holy shit!" Carl exclaims from behind me.

"Carl!" Rick hisses.

"Sorry dad. But look at all this stuff!" he says excitedly.

Everything looks as it was when I first got pushed away from it by the herd. The only thing that is different is the air mattress that is deflated which I was expecting. To the right against the wall, I had shelves put together in rows that were full of stuff I had collected from the store. One section was hygiene items (shampoo, conditioner, soap, razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste, brushes, female products, and medicines). Another section consisted of things like paper plates, cutlery, toilet wipes, and other thins like that. There was also a section with blankets, pillows, sheets, curtains, camping stuff and more. Along the longest wall that connected the two sides were shelves for water and the food I had found while searching. Then on the right side, was my little bed area that I had set up. Air mattress, pillows, bedding and my table with the lantern on it.

"You gathered all of this stuff by yourself?" Rick asks turning to look at me.

"Well I had help from a shopping cart but yeah. Took a lot of trips and a shit ton of back pain but this isnt even half of what I found out there. Just grabbed a bunch of stuff." I replied looking at the others as they looked through all the stuff. "Hey Daryl, I don't know what kind of arrows your crossbow takes but there are a bunch of them over in that corner to the left." I inform the man pointing to the corner they were in. He nods and heads over to it.

"This room is big enough for everyone to stay in if we have to leave the prison." Michonne says walking over toward us.

"There is also a room right on the other side of this wall. Guess it was there training room or something. The managers office is just a little bit down the hallway. Its pretty small, but it can be made into a room for one or two people."

"We need to make sure the front of the store is still secure before we can even think about coming here." I nod my head as I agree with Maggie.

"Daryl, Maggie and Carl I want you to take the right side of the store. Michonne, Lacey and I will take the left. If anyone runs into trouble, whistle twice loudly then get back to the car."

"There is also a set of doors out in the garden area and back in auto. You wont be able to see outside because I spray painted the glass so the walkers couldn't see me walking around at night."

"The hell were you turning this place into, Fort Knox?" Daryl asks with a smirk. "Alright, lets get this done." We all nod and separate into our groups before heading off. As we make our way through the store, the only sound heard was the squeaking of our shoes on the floor.

"Is so strange how quiet it is." Michonne whispers.

"Trying being in it for two and a half weeks alone." I reply as we make it to the front where the double set of doors were.

Everything was still the same.

"How did you get the carts on top of each other like that?" Rick asks.

"Like I said, a lot of back pain." The three of us laugh before turning to check out the other two sets of doors in the garden and auto areas. "Is it weird that I am actually shocked that nothing had been touched? Not that I am unhappy about it, its just strange that nobody has come by here and even thought to look. Sad actually."

"I know what you mean." Michonne pats my arm comfortingly.

"Lets head to the front and meet with the others." Michonne and I nod our heads and follow behind him toward the front. "You weren't joking when you said there was till a lot left here." Rick whispers looking around with his flashlight as we walk between two registers to find the other three waiting near the bathrooms.

"Everything good on your side?" Maggie asks standing from the bench she had been sitting on.

"Yeah, everything is still locked up tight like she had it. Let's head back to the break room and grab a couple things that we can use the next couple of days."

"I am gonna head over to the baby section. The girls only got a couple diapers left and I wanna grab them each an outfit or two. They have been wearing the same clothes for the last two weeks or so." I inform the group.

"Ok. Meet us back there in ten minutes max." I nod at Rick and turn to make my way back there. I grab a shopping basket on my way from one of the registers. With my flashlight out in front of me, I scan it over the rows of diapers that are on the shelf looking for the correct size. As I scan the lower shelf of diapers, I bend down to see three or four boxes pushed all the way to the back against the wall.

"Damn it." I curse to myself. With a sigh, I get down onto my knees and reach in as far as I can to try to grab one of the boxes.

"Oh come on!" I growl as my fingertips just barely brush against the top edge of the box. Just as my fingers brush it again, I feel a sharp smack on my left butt cheek and instantly fly backwards at the sudden pain. Jerking out of the shelve and landing on my back, I glance over and see Rick leaning against one of the shelves trying to contain his laughter. "What the hell was that for?" I growl getting to my feet and rubbing my sore butt cheek. "Did you have to smack it that hard? Geez, pretty sure I have a hand print the size of fuckin Texas there." I whine trying to sooth the slight burning.

"Sorry, was a tad bit harder than intended. Plus, I could pass us the opportunity. It was just there." He replies chuckling.

"Asshole." I growl under my breath making him laugh out loud. I glare at him before angrily bending down to pick up the box I had some how managed to yank out when I jerked back. "You stand there and laugh like an idiot, I am going to go get the clothes." I thrust the box of diapers into his chest and walk toward the baby girl clothes. I honestly wasn't mad about it, just wanted him to think I was. I knew he meant it in a playful gesture but he wasn't getting away with it.

"Oh, now come on. Don't be like that. You know I didn't mean it to be so rough." I could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "Im sorry." I smirk as I continue to ignore him and look through the girl clothes that consist of pinks, purples, yellows and rainbows. As I pick up a pink onsie that had flower designs on it, I feel him wrap his arms around me and pull me into his chest. "I will rub it better if that would help." He whispers into my ear before planting a kiss on my cheek.

"Rick." I whisper firmly, letting him know he is crossing a line that we arent ready to cross yet.

"I know we arent crossing that line yet. I can't help how you make me feel. Seeing you bent over like that on your hands and knees. I will be thinking about that for weeks to come until we are ready to take things further." He growls kissing my neck.

"What makes you think I would want to take things further? I could just be trying to seduce you enough so you have no choice but to keep me forever because you will be so in love with me that you cant let me go." I lightly tease, turning in his arms to look at him.

"Not likely." He smirks lifting his hand to move a clump of hair that had come loose from my messy bun that is on the top of my head.

"Someone's cocky." I smirk pushing him away gently.

"You have no idea." He groans adjusting his pants.

"Come on, I have got what I needed. Time to go. Your little problem will have to wait." I smirk catching a quick peak down south to see the impressive bulge at the front of his pants.

"There aint nothing little about my problem woman. Get going before I decide to hold you hostage here and handle it." I laugh loudly before grabbing the little clothes I had chosen and make my way to join the others with Rick walking behind me, carrying the box of diapers in front of him. When we get to the back, the others are already outside waiting by the car and Daryl's bike.

"Ready to go?" I ask tossing the outfits into the back of the car.

"Yep, got some food and water for the next couple of days. If everything goes to plan, we can come back and get the rest." Maggie says leaning against the open door to the back seat. She glances over my shoulder to look at Rick and smirks. "What's wrong with Rick?" she asks. I turn to look over my shoulder at him and see him still holding the box of diapers in front of him while talking to Daryl.

"Think he is just really fond of the diapers for the girls." I reply.

"I'm sure that's what it is." I look back at her and see her smirking as she wiggles her eyebrows.

"I don't know what you are trying to suggest Maggie Greene." I smirk walking to the passenger side and climbing into my seat. All in all this trip went really smoothly. Lets hope it continues.

 **\--**

 ***So, not much excitement in this one. Let me know what you thought. i have been workin on other chapters, i have written up till chapter sixteen and still going. i want to write a couple chapters that take place between season three and four. kinda comin up blank on what should happen though. if you have any good ideas PM me and let me know. Also, i wanna thank NickaDixon45 and Gottaloveva for commenting! Also singlemompride, i am glad someone out there agrees with me. i have read a lot of stories that are like that and it would drive me crazy. anyway i am going to try to post the next chapter this weekend probably.***


	13. chapter 13

_*This chapter is going to start off with Rick, Carl and Michonne in King County. Michonne and Carl have gone off in their search for stuff while Rick is with Morgan. This chapter is going to jump around a lot probably, I am honestly not sure. Also before I post the next chapter I need everyone to please go to my profile and vote on the poll. I can't continue without feedback about this specific question. *_

 **Rick**

"Do you know who I am? Do you see who I am?" Rick asks Morgan as he tries to get him to recognize who he is.

"People wearing dead peoples face!" the crazed man yells.

"Morgan, listen to me!"

"I don't know you!!"

"You do know me."

 ** _"I don't know you!"_** Morgan gets to his feet and rushes Rick but he quickly turns to push Morgan against the wall. Trying to keep the knife in his hand away from the both of them so neither one gets hurt.

"You saved my life Morgan! You know me. Look at me."

"I don't know you!" Morgan yells out before kneeing Rick in the ribs, knocking him to the ground. Morgan climbs over him and holds the knife above him.

"You know me!" he grunts out at he tries to hold Morgan's arm up.

"I don't know anyone anymore! **You**.. **Dont**.. ** _Clear_**!" the crazed man screams before thrusting the knife into Ricks shoulder causing him to yell out in pain. Rick manages to get over the initial shock of being stabbed and throws his head forward, knocking Morgan off of him and quickly gets to his feet. Pulling his gun from its holster it holds its to Morgan's head.

"You do know me you crazy son of a bitch!" he yells pressing the end of the gun to his head as Morgan grabs his hand and presses it closer.

"Please, kill me! Please." He begs, starting to cry. Not knowing what to do, Rick stands there trying to decide what to do next.

 **Carl and Michonne**

After they left the café near the track with the picture Carl had come to get, both he and Michonne headed to the baby store that was on the way back and they were currently searching for supplies.

"Thank you." Carl suddenly says while placing a few items into a plastic shopping bag causing Michonne to pause in her search for stuff.

"What for?"

"Helping me. Getting the picture" the young boy answers. Michonne stands there looking at him for a minute, not sure how to respond the boys gratitude.

"You're welcome." They both go back to gathering what little supplies they can. They don't need to take much since the Walmart baby department was completely stocked since nobody nobody needed baby supplies at the end of the world apparently.

"Ya know, I am glad that you found us. You and Lacey."

"Me too kid, me too."

* **Still with Carl and Michonne, heading back to join Rick, time skip***

"You know Lacey and my dad got a thing for each other? Dad hasn't said anything to me yet but I know they do." Carl says as he steps around one of the barrels filled with the pointed branches.

"I kinda figured. You ok with it?" Michonne questions pulling her sword out of its sheath to take out a walker that managed to makes its way around one of the traps.

"Well, honestly its strange. I mean Lacey is cool and everything but they haven't known each other long. I know that things are different now, not like how it used to be but we just lost my mom. I know that before we found the prison they were really distant from each other. Basically not talking or interacting unless it was necessary. They thought I didn't notice that they were only trying to be civil for me but I did. Even before dad got shot they hardly ever talked. Dad always tried to talk to her about stuff but she just didn't want to." He paused to look over at her before continuing.

"They don't know but at night, when they thought I was in my room going to bed, I was actually sitting on the stairs listening to them argue in the kitchen. I just wanted to know if they were getting a divorce. Wanted to be prepared for when it happened. They pretty much were on the road to one anyways before all this. Mom was always with her friends when dad was home and usually after he got off work he would have a drink with Shane at the bar to vent. He would come home and sleep on the couch and in the morning try to act like everything was normal. He would tell me he got home late and didn't want to wake mom up or use some other dumb excuse. When he found us at the quarry after we thought he had died in the hospital a month before, I could tell things weren't the same. They seemed excited to see the other alive, but it was different. Then when mom- - when she died, he cried. I know it was mostly because I had lost my mom and I had to put her down. I mean I know he grieved her because they were married and were together since high school. He doesn't know this but I hear him talking to her at night when we are in bed. He keeps apologizing for not being able to protect her and not being the husband that she wanted and all this other stuff. The other night he asked her not to be mad at him for wanting to be with Lacey. He said that she made him feel something he hasn't felt in a long time and he said he was sorry for that as well. I have noticed a difference in him since you both arrived. He's smiling more, joking with me more like he used to and he seems lighter. I like Lacey, she is easy to talk to and its nice to have someone to talk to who wasn't there for all the drama with Shane and everything at the farm. She seems to be making him happy and I am ok with that." He falls silent and waits for her to say something. She is silent for a little while, thinking about everything the boy just laid out there.

"You know, you are really perceptive for a twelve year old." She smirks looking at him.

"I'm thirteen thank you."

"Same thing." She shrugs. He rolls his eyes and they share a laugh. He watches her as she steps under one of the wires and cant help to think that maybe she wasn't as bad as he had initially thought. He shakes his head and quickly follows her as his dad came out of the building.

"Hey, was just getting ready to come look for you." Rick says looking at his son and Michonne.

"Sorry." Carl apologizes.

"Its ok. You're here now." He smiles looking at the bags they were carrying. "Everything go ok?" he asks.

"Yeah, not much trouble. Few walkers but that's it." Michonne answers. Rick nods as he sees Carl staring at his shoulder that Morgan had stabbed him in.

"Its nothing." He says reassuring his son.

"You know Lacey wont be to happy." He says as Michonne takes a bag full of weapons from his dad. Rick looks at him shocked causing both him and Michonne to chuckle. "I'm not dumb dad. I know you both like each other." He smirks walking past his father to head toward the car.

"Well shit. Thought id have more time before I had to tell him." He chuckles quietly to Michonne as they follow behind the young boy.

 ***Back at prison, Lacey POV***

"What the hell do you mean he got stabbed on the run?" I ask looking at Carl as we finish pulling the weapons out of the bag.

"We ran into someone he met at the beginning of this before he found us at the quarry. Dad said he was different then, he had completely lost it by the time we found him. Michonne and I left to get some supplies. When we got back, he had already bandaged it up. I don't know how deep it is though." He explains looking at me nervously. Taking a deep breath through my nose, I cant help the feeling of concern cover me. "I know the both of you have a thing for each other but for some reason haven't told anyone yet, me included." He says quietly. I cant help but startle at that bit of information and stare at him with my mouth open. "Im ok with it, just so you know."

"I am glad to hear that. I hope you don't think that I am stepping on your moms toes. I am in no way trying to take her place. Not at all." Never thought I would be scared of what a thirteen old thought of me.

"I don't. Dads different since you showed up. Like I told Michonne, they were basically divorced before we found the prison. He's a little happier lately and its nice to see." He says.

"Howd you figure it out?" I ask moving on of the guns.

"Well its not like you guys are hiding it very well." He says laughing lightly.

"Well shit." I join in with his laughter. "Well I want you to know that if at anytime you want me to back off for any reason, you let me know ok? I don't want you to think that I am gonna come between you guys or anything bad like that. Obviously I am not gonna try to become your mom, but if you need a friend to talk to…id love for you to be able to talk to me. Hell, we don't even know how long this will last. Especially with everything that's happening lately. Anything can happen." He nods his head and looks up at me. "I am gonna go check on him real quick." He nods once again and I get up to head in search of the cowardly sheriffs deputy.

Searching the cell block, I find him hiding in his cell trying to unwrap the bloodied bandage wrapped around his shoulder and torso. "Didn't think the former sheriffs deputy was scared of little old me." I smirk leaning against the doorway, watching as he jumps and turns around to face me, bandage handing down at his side.

"I saw the look you gave Allen the other day, look I don't want to be on the receiving end of." He chuckles.

"Need help?" I ask taking a step forward.

"Sure." He sits down on the stool that he and Carl have in there. I stand in front of him, between his legs and I get to work unwrapping the white gauze. He places his left hand on my waist to hold his arm up so its easier to get the wrap around his shoulder, lightly brushing his thumb over the patch of skin that was exposed between my shirt and pants.

"So…Carl knows about us." I slightly smirk looking down at his face to see his reaction.

"Yeah, I know. He mentioned it while we were on the run. Shocked the hell out of me that he knew." He chuckles.

"Think my jaw hit the table in the common area. Never been concerned what a thirteen year old thought about me until that moment. Was expecting him to tell me to stay away from you or something. He said he is actually ok with it. That I make you happy and that it was a nice thing." I smile as I bend over to reach around his back to grab the large clump of gauze. He kisses my cheek before I stand back up and smiles at me.

"Well he's right." I look down at him and cant help as my smile gets bigger. I place my hand on his cheek and bend to place my lips on his in a soft kiss. He grips my hips and pulls me forward and onto his lap as he wraps his arms around me. With my legs straddling his and my arms around his neck he pulls me closer and kisses me with more passion than ever before. We sit like that for a while, just kissing but not taking it any further.

Reluctantly though, I pull back and run my eyes over his face to see a goofy smirk on his face as he has his eyes closed.

"Lets finish getting this unwrapped and cleaned before I do something that might be too soon." I whisper before kissing him softly again.

"You are gonna kill me someday." He jokes as I pull the last bit of wrap off, exposing the thick patch of square bloody gauze. Hesitantly I start to peel one of the corners away from it and instantly stop when he hisses in pain. "Its ok. Its dried to the skin and really tender." He says.

"Let me get a little water. It will loosen up the gauze so it wont pull as much." I quickly get him and grab the water bottle that rest on the metal table hanging next to the door. Taking a seat back on his lap again. I twist off the cap and pour just a small amount of water onto the gauze and watch as it absorbs the water. Water and blood mixed together trail in a tiny stream down his chest and drips onto my black pants. Gently taking the corner in my fingers, I start to peel it away and look at his face for any sign of pain. He has his eyes focused on what I was doing and has his lips pulled inwards, obviously in a little pain. "You ok?"

"Yeah, doesn't hurt as much." He sighs as I pull that last bit off, exposing the wound.

"Shit Rick. This needs stitches I think." I frown looking at the nasty looking at the wound.

"Its fine. If we just keep it clean and change the bandages often it will heal just as well as it would with stitches." He says.

"I still think you should get Hershel to put a couple in." I protest but he shakes his head.

"I've had worse, trust me. Grab the stuff to clean it and rewrap it."

"Should pour the bottle of alcohol in it since you're being so damned stubborn." I mutter getting up to grab the supplies. After I finish cleaning the wound and after covering it back up, forgoing wrapping it up, I help him get a clean shirt on and we check the girls before grabbing a bite to eat and talking with the rest of the group about what is to come in the next couple days. Rick was planning on for the small group of us that was to hide out at the Walmart to head there in just a couple days. Andrea had told him that he would tell the governor to meet with him at some location in a few days. Hoping that everything goes ok, we still have to be prepared for the worst.

 _*I realized that I mentioned that the group that would not be fighting would be hiding soon but I was wrong. Its more or less a week from this chapter actually. I know in the show Carl, Beth, Hershel and Judith hide in the woods that day. But for the story they will more than likely go to the store the night before, that will also give the group that is fighting more time to prepare for the the governor. Just wanted to throw that out there. If you have any other questions or anything either PM me or just write a review.*_


	14. chapter 14

*Time skip. I am not exactly sure how long its been since they didn't give any indication on the show, but I am gonna say that maybe it has been four or five days possibly.*

Rick, Daryl and Hershel had left the prison about an hour ago to meet with the Governor and see if stuff could be worked out but I honestly wasn't holding my breath on that. In the mean time, the rest of us have been going through the guns and ammo taking inventory of everything that Rick, Michonne and Carl got on their run the other day. Thankfully both girls were taking a nap so we could get stuff done. Rick had asked Glenn to start working on the prison today and left him in charge.

"Carl, come here." He says to the boy. "Stash these at these at the loading dock. Beth, can you put more up on the catwalk? If anyone gets pinned down, we need to make sure they have ammo. I am gonna start working on the cage." Glenn grabs the torch and starts to head out but stops when Merle stops him.

"What we should be doing is loading some of this firepower into the truck and paying us a visit to the Governor. We know where he is." I cant help but roll my eyes.

"You suggesting we go in and kill him?" Glenn asks looking at him as if were the dumbest idea. Which it was.

"Yeah I am."

"We told Rick and Daryl we would stay put. Besides that a million things could go wrong. If we were to roll up on them guns a blazin', not only do we blow this plan out the window, but Rick or Hershel or hell your brother could be killed or worse." I look him straight in the eye.

"I changed my mind sweetheart. My brother being out there, near him, aint sittin right with me." Did he not just hear anything I said.

"Like she said, a thousand things could go wrong." Glenn said backing me up.

"And they will."

"My dad can take care of himself." Carl yells glaring at the one armed pain in the ass.

"Sorry son, but your dads head could be on a pike real soon." I watch as Carl turns and walks out as if he hadn't heard what was said. As soon as he is out the door, I slam the clip I had in my hand down, making the noise echo off the walls loudly. I look at him with pure rage running through my veins, felling everyone's eyes on me.

" **Don't** you **_ever_** say anything like that to him again you fuckin brain dead redneck. As a matter a fact, I don't want to hear you say one word to him ever again. If ya do, I will take your other damn hand, see how you defend yourself with no hands." I growl glaring at him.

"That a threat princess?" I can tell he is baiting me, but I'm not biting.

"It's a damn promise." I was beyond furious at this point.

Straightening up I turned to Maggie, handing her the bullets. "I am gonna go check on him." She nods her head taking them from me and I turn to quickly follow after Carl to make sure he was alright. Stepping outside, I look around for the familiar hat and find him sitting on the bleachers looking down. Slowly making my way over, I come to a stop and knock on the metal bench he was sitting on making him jump. He turns his head and wipes his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt quickly so I don't notice.

"Stop that." I gently grab his wrist as I climb up to sit on the bench in front of him facing him. He sniffles and keeps his head down, trying to hide his tears. "Carl, I want you to look at me." I quietly whisper as I place my other hand on his arm as well. He slowly looks at me and I can see the tear tracks that have managed to make a wet trail down his cheeks through the dirt that was gathered there. "I don't want you to hide your tears from me. I get it. You're worried about your dad and that's ok. There is no shame in crying." He finally lifts his head to look me in the eyes and nods. "Now, tell me what's going on in that head of yours."

"Its not just being worried about him. I know that he can take care of himself if it came down to it, I just had a moment of, 'what if he doesn't come back?' Judy and I will be orphans. It will just be the two of us and that's not fair." He whispers as his voice cracks a bit at the end. Moving closer, I grip his hand reassuringly and peak under his hat to look at him.

"I want you to listen to what I am about to say, ok? If something were to ever happen to your dad, I want you to know that you both will not be alone. You will not be orphans because you still have family here. Ok? Yes, we aren't exactly blood but that doesn't defy who your family is. You will always have someone here to look after you. I know you know about your dad and I so I wont try to deny it, but if anything ever happened to him, I want you to know that I would take care of you and your sister like you both were my own. Hell I somewhat am with Judith already…kinda. Even though I have only known your dad for about a month, I know that he will fight tooth and nail to make it back to you both. He would kill anyone who stood in his way." I pause to reach up and wipe his face with the sleeve of my shirt. "I don't want you to ever feel like you are alone. If you ever feel like that or if you just need to cry or rant or whatever then you come find me. Ok? Ill be the best friend you ever had if that was what you needed. I know there might be some things that you wont feel comfortable talking to your dad about and if you don't want to talk to anyone else…then come find me and I will listen. If you don't want peoples opinions then let me know and ill just lend my ear till you get it off your chest." He nods his head as he sits up and cleans his face off. "Feeling better?" I ask smirking up at him. He nods and I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god! I didn't know if I was gonna upset you more or make myself cry." I tease making him chuckle. "Come on, wanna go check on the girls with me?"

"Sure." We stand up and jump down from the bleachers. As we start to make our way toward the cell block Carl says my name, making me stop to look at him. He steps closer to me and wraps his arms around my waist as he hugs me tightly. I lift my hands and place them around his shoulders. "Thank you. I am glad that my dad decided to keep you." He says against my stomach.

Shocked beyond belief, I stand there speechless as he lets me go and takes off toward in the direction we were headed. I watch him go and see Glenn standing in the cage, watching us with a smile on his face.

Guess that was Carl's stamp of approval.

*A while later*

"The hell is going on?" I mutter rushing out of my cell with Lily in my arms to the common area. Upon coming into the room, I stop in my tracks just in time to see Maggie put Merle in a choke hold as he pins Glenn to one of the tables. Quickly handing Lily to Beth, I make my way over just as Merle pushes Maggie off of his pack making her stumble into the table behind them. I grab one of the rifles of the table and cock it, putting a bullet in the chamber before holding it up and aiming it at his head. "Back off Merle. Now or I wont hesitate to put a bullet in your head." I threaten the man. He stands up slowly and turns to look at me.

"Quit making empty threats. If your gonn do it, then do it. None of you pussies have the balls to do what needs to be done. Makin empty threats wont get you very far sugar tits." As he finishes his sentence, I swing the gun around and smack the handle of it across his face. It collides with his nose and he falls backwards onto his ass and he's out.

"How's that for an empty threat ya dick head." I growl dropping my arms to my side staring down at the unconscious man.

"Remind me to never make you angry." Glenn mutters looking at me with a smirk. I cant help but laugh and place the rifle back onto the table before turning to Tyreese.

"Hey Ty, would you mind helping get him into a cell until Rick and Daryl get back?" I ask.

"I'm afraid to say no, so lets get him moved." He smirks making everyone laugh. Tyreese, Glenn, Sasha and I manage to get Merle into one of the cells and onto the bed. Shutting the door, Glenn locks the door and we head back to the rest of the group.

"He is gonna wake up pissed beyond belief." Maggie laughs shaking her head.

"He is always pissed. At everything, nothing new. Ill just knock his ass out again." I laugh walking to Beth to take Lily back but see that she is asleep in her arms.

"I got her." She smiles.

"Ok, well I am going to go watch for the others. Send one of the others if you need me." She nods her head and I grab the rifle I just had and head out to the courtyard to keep watch with Carol and Michonne.

After a while , Michonne and Carol head in for some food leaving me alone. Its not too long after they head in, the relatively quiet afternoon is broken by the rumbling of a familiar motorcycle. Quickly taking the keys that Rick gave me before he left off my belt loop I run over to the gate and quickly unlock it before pulling it open wide enough for both of them to enter. Quickly closing it, I lock it back and head over to Rick as he gets out. I can instantly tell that he is tense as he looks around, examining the surround area. A few others have joined us and he looks at everyone before looking at me.

"Lets head inside." He says taking my hand and leading everyone inside. Everyone gathers in the cell block, nervously waiting for what Rick has to say. Judith remains asleep in her cot in Beth and Hershel's room while Lily is laying in my arms, awake and looking around. "So I met this Governor. Sat with him for quite a while." Rick finally says.

"Just the two of you?" Merle asks. I look over at the man and see that someone let him out. Probably Daryl.

"Yeah." Rick nods looking down.

"Should have gone when we had the chance." He mumbles looking at Glenn and I.

"He wants the prison. He wants us gone, dead. He wants us dead, for what we did you Woodbury." He explains. When nobody says anything he continues. "We're going to war." He says looking around. He sighs and turns to leave. I quickly hand Lily off to Maggie and follow after Rick as he heads up to the catwalk. As I walk out the door, I see him standing at the fence, holding on to it as if were keeping him in place.

"Hey." I come to a stop next to him and cross my arms as my anxiety takes a hold of me. "What's going to happen Rick?" I ask. He remains silent for a minute, as if he was trying to decide if he should say what he was holding in.

"He gave me a choice. A way out." I barely heard him when he finally spoke.

"What does he want?" I can see the hesitation on his face as he looks at me and I instantly know its bad.

"Michonne." Yep, its bad. Didn't know it was that bad though.

"Absolutely not! He'll kill her without hesitating Rick."

"And then he'll kill us anyways." I watch as he looks out over the field and can tell he has more to say. "And what if he doesn't? What if this is the answer?"

"Well its not. It cant be the only way out of it Rick. I wont let anything happen to her if I can help it. Why didn't you let the rest of the group know about this?" I ask.

"They need to be scared."

"Well they are. We all are. Nobody wants to be dealing with this. If you take her to him, you will be sending her to the butcher."

"What other choice do I have Lacey? I am trying my hardest here. To keep everyone alive. To keep up from going to war and the only way to do that is to give him what he wants."

"No Rick. If you do that, you know what will happen. He will kill her, you and anyone else with you. Then he will come kill the guys, even Carl. Then do who knows what to us girls before killing us too. I don't even want to think about what would happen to Lily and Judith." He looks at me as I finish and I can see his strong façade start to crack as his eyes start to tear up.

"Then what should I do Lacey? Tell me, because I don't know what the hell to do." I quickly wrap my arms around him and pull him to me. Two crying Grimes men in just a few hours.

"We will think of something. We have to think of another solution."

There has to be another way.


	15. chapter 15

I have been thinking over the last couple of days of a plan that could prevent the fight, keep Rick from sending Michonne back to Woodbury, -which Rick promised me he wouldn't do if we could think of a plan, -and how I was gonna keep myself from punching Merle in the mouth. Since he has gotten here, all he has done was get on everyone's last nerve. I really hadn't had a problem with him until the other day when he told Carl that Rick could be dead and I went off on him. It seem like since that day his voice has just been grating on my last nerve and that's saying something since I have always been level headed. I may not have thought of a plan that could help us all, but I was sure as hell gonna talk to Daryl about his annoying ass brother. I haven't had too many conversations with Daryl, mostly just brief exchanges of words. First time for everything though, hence why I was looking for him.

"Hey Maggie, you haven't seen Daryl around have you?" I asked walking over toward the table her, Sasha, Tyreese and Beth were sitting at.

"He just went out with my dad and Rick about ten minutes ago. Might be out there somewhere." She says.

"Ok, thanks." I smile.

"Everything alright?" she asks looking up from her bowl of oatmeal.

"Besides the fact I am about to nail his brother in the mouth, everything is peachy." I give her a sarcastic thumbs up, making the group laugh, before heading out to find him. Walking out into the courtyard, I take a quick look around and see the three men standing in the corner near the loading docks talking quietly. Whatever they were talking about was obviously meant to only be heard by them. Making a dash toward the enclosed and blocked off loading dock, I quietly hide around the corner out of sight but still in hearing distance of what they were talking about. Peeking through the wood pallet that was leaning up against the fence, I look to see if any of them had seen or heard me but it doesn't seem like it. They talk about the meeting with the governor and discuss different tactics. Rather boring stuff until Daryl brings up the Governors demands. I instantly tense up and look through the pallet at Rick.

"It's the only way. No one else knows besides the three of us and Lacey." My heart freezes in my chest and I feel like someone is squeezing it tightly.

"You gonna tell the rest of 'em?" Daryl asks slinging his crossbow over his shoulder and looking at Rick nervously. I try to get a read on where he stands with that but like usual, I am unable to.

"Not till after its done." He says.

"No. It cant happen." I whisper quietly to myself. I can feel myself fuming at Rick, breaking a promise he made to me that he wouldn't send her to him.

"We have to do it today. It has to be quiet." Rick mutters. Feeling my heart start to race and the feeling of betrayal and anger wash over me, I decide to wait to hear the rest of this. I am gonna have to get Michonne out of here or at least fight everyone that agrees with this. I refused to let her get sent to her death.

"You got a plan?" Daryl asks. I look at Rick as he nods his head. He looks around the courtyard and stops when he get to the loading dock. I quickly lean back behind the wall, hoping that he hadn't seen me. Its quiet for a minute so I take the risk of him seeing me spying on them but when I look back out he was looking at the ground.

"We tell her we need to talk. Away from the others."

"Just aint us, man." Daryl replies shaking his head and looking at Hershel. Hershel lets out a loud sigh and shakes his head.

"No. No it isn't." He says before turning away and heading back to the cell block. I watch him retreat and I am glad there is someone on my side. I look back at Rick and Daryl and Rick starts to speak again.

"We do this, we avoid a fight. No one else dies." Its kinda hard to decide who he is trying to convince more, Daryl or himself.

"Alright." Daryl agrees. I can tell he is also hesitant to agree to this, but he is Rick's right hand.

"We need someone else." Merle. Daryl nods and looks toward the cell block as if the man in question was suddenly gonna appear.

"I'll talk to him."

"No, I'll do it." Rick says before clapping Daryl on the back and heading after the way Hershel went. I slipped back into my hiding space remaining unseen and cant believe what I just heard. I cant let this happen. Deciding that the best way to not let anything happen, I just had to stay near Michonne and not let anyone try to talk to her alone.

"You gonna come out now?" Daryl's voice makes me jump and I freeze.

"How the hell did he know I was here?" I whisper to myself. Standing up I walk to the fence and see him leaning against the outer part of the fence smoking a cigarette. "How did you know I was there? I didn't make a single sound." I question making my way down the steps and around to stand next to him. He points down at my shoe and smirks.

"The tip of your shoe. Could see it in the gap between the pallet and the wall. If I hadn't 'ave seen it, never would have known you were there. Next time, make sure every part of you is in the shadows." He answered.

"You gonna tell Rick that I know this now?" I question crossing my arms.

"Nah, not my business. Figured you'd go after him soon enough."

"Hmm, well I don't plan on letting anything happen to her or anyone else here. You can tell your brother that. He's actually the reason I came out here to begin with, but something else is more important than that right now. I will just ask you to try and keep him away from Carl. He has already been through enough and he doesn't need someone like Merle bringing it up that Rick might die every time he turns around."

"I'll talk to 'em. That all he doin'?" he asks dropping his cigarette to the ground and stepping on it.

"I am sure there is more but you probably already know about them." I answer. He nods and gestures with his head back toward the cell block.

"Ya better get to watching your friend." I nod and we make our way back. As we enter the block Maggie, Carol, Glenn, Michonne and Hershel are gathered at one of the tables.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"Discussing ways to booby trap the field and surrounding area, slow them down when they try to get close enough." Carol answered.

"Michonne had the idea to take some of that barbed wire and wrap it around some wood. Place them near the front gate. Pop some tires if they try to drive up here." Glenn explained. I look at Michonne and smirk.

"That's a really good idea. We should bring it up to Rick. Maybe we can keep you around for your good ideas." I tease her looking at Daryl and Hershel. Daryl rolls his eyes and shifts awkwardly.

"I kinda stole the idea from the man that stabbed Rick. Had the whole block booby trapped with different ones. Thought it would be a good idea to use here." Michonne smiled.

"Well lets get to it." Daryl said. Everyone gets to work on grabbing the supplies and meeting out in the courtyard to put the traps together. Quickly checking in on the girls who was being watched by Sasha and Beth, they inform me that they are doing ok for right now.

"Ok, as soon as I get done with the booby traps I will come and feed and bathe them." They nod and I return to the group. We manage to make six or seven of the traps with the amount of supplies we could find and start to load them into the truck. Maggie and Carl both head down to the dog run with pots and something to hit them with to distract the walkers away from where we were going.

"Hey Lacey, mind driving?" Glenn asks. Shaking my head, he tosses me the keys and we all load up. Daryl and Glenn in the back while Michonne and I were in the front. Daryl opens the gate for us and I stop to wait for him to close it again and get in the back before heading down to the field near the gate. When all the traps are laid out and nailed to the ground, I quickly turn the truck around and head back up to the courtyard where Rick opens the gate, looking confused. Glaring at him as I drive by, I pull the courtyard and put the truck in park before shutting it off. "They try to drive up to the gate again, maybe a couple blown tires will stop them." Rick comes to stand in front of me and smiles gently, but it drops quickly when he seems my glare.

"That's a good idea." He looks at Glenn briefly before turning to look at me.

"Yeah, it was Michonne's." I snap before walking away. Meeting Carl and Maggie on the way, I take the pots from them before heading inside. I know Rick is more than likely to follow me so I quickly place the pots on the shelf near the designated kitchen area and make my way to my cell.

"How'd it go?" Sasha asks, seeing me at the door.

"Good. Got them all down, wish we had more wood and nails to make more for the outside near the woods but It will do for now." I explain crossing my arms and leaning against the wall.

"That's good. Well maybe we can think of a couple more traps that don't involve wood and nails." Beth smiles. "Oh, hey Rick." I tense up at the mention of his name. Turning around I see him standing there looking at me. "Did you see what they did outside? I haven't seen it myself but I think it's a brilliant idea." She smiles.

"Yeah I did. Do you ladies mind watching the girls a bit longer while I talk to Lacey?" he asks not taking his eyes off of me. The look on his face tells me that he knows I am upset. I look over to Beth and Sasha to see them picking up the girls and quickly making their exits.

"Take as long as you need."

"This won't take long." I reply to Sasha. Once they are gone, I uncross my arms and move to the other side of the bed to take off my gun holster and jacket that I had put on early to fend off the cool weather outside. Rick sighs and shuffles his feet as he steps further into the room, casting a shadow against the far wall.

"What's wrong?" he asks. I scoff as I hang up the jacket on the top railing on the top bunk.

"Like you don't know. Maybe you need to talk to Daryl and Hershel to figure it out." I reply casting a glare at him. A look of guilt crosses his face before he looks down.

"You heard." He states.

"Damn right I heard Rick. I thought we discussed trying to think of a different plan, one that didn't involve murdering an innocent woman or was that just a bunch of bull?" I snapped turning to face him.

"I know we discussed it the other day but I sure as hell haven't been able to think of any better solution. At least not one that keeps everybody face." I scoff as he takes a step closer to me.

"Everybody but Michonne. Were you ever actually thinking of a plan or was it the plan all along to give him what he wants. I mean, what's murdering one person to save the rest of us, right? You know that she isn't going to get the royal treatment there don't you? Hell if she even makes it there. He'll probably execute here right then and there, take her out as soon as she steps out of the car."

"Lacey, I promise-"

"Don't! Don't you dare say you promise me anything when you are about to break one that you already made me." I quickly cut him off. "Is that how you wanna start what ever this is between us? On a lie? Because if that is all you are going to do, then I want no part of it. I know I at least have one person on my side if Hershel's reaction to the conversation earlier was any indication that he didn't agree. Sasha and Tyreese might back me, considering I vouched for them and they owe me. If you do this, you might as well put a bullet in her head now because that is what is going to happen. I cant- I wont be with a man or a group that thinks it is ok to murder an innocent woman. Just know that if you do this, there wont be an us. I'll take Lily and leave." I was on the verge of a break down just at the thought of leaving with Lily. It would be difficult but I refuse to be a part of a group that agrees to that. Seeing that he is speechless, I grab my sweater that was laying on my bed and walk out. Walking to the common area, I see Maggie and Beth with the girls as they sit with Hershel. Making my way over I sit with them and take Lily as Maggie hands her to me. Once she is feeding, I look at the family to see they all have the same look on their faces. Guess they probably heard me yelling at Rick.

"You alright?" Hershel asks.

"Yes and no." I reply sadly smirking. He nods and pulls out his bible and starts reading.

*A while later*

Judith and Lily were finally sleeping peacefully in their cot next to me as Hershel continued to read from the bible.

"Thou shall not be afraid, for the terror by night. Nor for the arrow that flieth by day. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness. Nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand. But it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Surely he shalt deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee and under his wings shalt thou trust. There shall no evil befall thee. Neither shall any plague come high thy dwelling." Hershel pauses in his reading and I see his lip start to quiver.

"You ok?" Beth asks reaching across the table to hold his hand.

"What I wouldn't do to keep the two of you safe." He says looking from Beth to Maggie. The door to the cell block opens and Rick appears as he heads toward the stairs that lead to the catwalk.

"Rick." Hershel quickly gets up causing him to stop in his path to the stairs. Beth and Maggie get up and leave faster than I could even blink. "What you're about to do- -"

"I cant." My jaw nearly falls open and hits the table top. He his eyes over to me before looking back at Hershel. "I cant and I wont." He says before looking at me again and walking away. I watch him disappear through the door and sigh as a major weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Hershel and I look at each other and quietly laugh.

"Well, ok then." He chuckles.

"Lets hope he means it this time." Hershel nods in agreement and heads toward the cell block leaving me with the girls. Deciding to make something to eat, I grab a bottle of water and pour it into a pot to make some oatmeal. Brandon used to hate oatmeal, almost more than the criminals he was always arresting. Every Saturday when I would eat it with my cup of orange juice he would sit next to me and make a disgusting face every time I took a bite. Claimed that it looked like something a cat would throw up. I would just tease him and take another bite and stick my tongue out at him. He would gag, get up from the table and head to the bedroom to get ready for work. It was one of my favorite memories. It was almost tradition, since it happened every Saturday and he reacted the same way every time. I will have to tell Lily about it when she gets older. Along with so much more. That little girl may grow up not knowing him, but she will know how much he loved her before he even knew what she was. Even before the world ended, kids was all he talked about. He wanted kids so badly and I was happy that we could at least have Lily before he died. Shaking my head out of the nostalgia, I pour my oatmeal into a bowl and add a spoon of sugar and cinnamon for some flavor before sitting back at the table to eat. A few minutes later, Daryl comes in from the courtyard and starts looking around.

"Lose something?" I ask the man as he spins in a circle.

"Yeah, you aint seen Merle and Michonne have you?" I instantly drop my spoon and stand up.

"No, last I saw Michonne was when we were all in the courtyard earlier."

"Son of a bitch." He mutters.

"Are you telling me your brother took her?" I step closer to him.

"Not sure. Rick went to talk to him again but couldn't find him. Cant find her either." He explains.

"This is just fan-fucking-tastic." I look toward the door as it opens and Rick rushes in. "I thought you weren't going through with this!?" I growl poking him in the chest.

"I'm not damn it! I went to find Merle to tell him it was off and he's already gone!" he yelled back.

"Last I saw him, he was in the boiler room. Looking for drugs or something. That would be the best place to look." Daryl says.

"Alright, lets go. Lacey, I promise you…no I swear to you on Judith and Carl's lives that I will not let Michonne make it to the meeting spot. I promise you." Rick grabs the back of my head and kisses me firmly on the mouth before he turns and rushes after Daryl. Making my way back to the girls who were now awake, I smile down at the.

"Hey there lovely ladies. How's my favorite girls doing? What do you say we go outside for a little while, get some fresh air. Would you like that?" I coo at them. Picking them up and carefully adjusting them in my arms, we make our way out through the open door to join the rest of the group that was out there. Leaving the girls with the majority, I decide to join Maggie at the edge of the courtyard near the fence. "You alright?" I ask coming to a stand next to her.

"Yeah. I'll just be glad when this is all over." She sighs crossing her arms.

"You and me both. I told Rick that is anything happened to Michonne because of his choices then there wouldn't be an us." I whisper. Other than Carl, Carol and Michonne; Maggie was the only one that I actually talked to about it. The others guess it but Maggie and I were close in age with her being twenty-four and me being seven-eight by now. She reminds me of one of my girlfriends that I used to have in high school. We talked about everything and always gave our honest opinions. When we talked I felt like I had known Maggie for longer than just a few months. Hearing someone come up behind us, we turn to see Glenn making his way over.

"Hey." He says looking at Maggie.

"Hey. Carl was looking for you." She smiles adjusting the gun on her shoulder.

"He found me. We should head over, Rick has something he needs to say." He subtly looks at me as if he were asking me to leave.

"I can tell when I am not wanted." I smirk playfully bumping Glenn's shoulder as I walk past him. I hear him stop Maggie and turn to see him slip something into her right hand. Upon closer inspection I catch a quick glint of something shiny and small. Particularly ring sized. They share a brief kiss and embrace and Maggie looks at me over his shoulder, holding up her left hand where she had slipped the ring onto her ring finger. Grinning at her, I give her a thumbs up and do a silly dance in celebration.

"The hell are you doing?" Tyreese asks from behind me making me jump and squeak.

"Damn dude!!! You may be taller than the jolly green giant but I am getting your ass a bell. Lord my heart about flew out of my chest." I laugh playfully punching his shoulder. Tyreese is another one I have become good friends with. He reminds me of the type of guy that Brandon would have hung out with from the force. Looks all me and grumpy but really they are full of fluff and softness.

"My bad, saw you dancing around and I didn't know if you were swatting a bee or having a seizure." He teases imitating my dance I was just doing making me bust out laughing. I shake my head at him as he continues dancing and we head over to the rest of the group.

"Do I even want to know what is wrong with you?" Sasha asks her brother who was still dancing.

"He thinks he's funny. I'd threaten to feed him to the walkers but he is to big to drag by myself." The group laughs lightly at my joke toward the tall man.

"She is evil." Ty playfully glares while pointing at me. Suddenly everyone quiets down and I turn to see Rick walking over to us. I take Lily from Beth and stand next to Sasha and Tyreese.

"When I met with the governor, he offered me a deal. He said- - he said he would leave us alone if I gave him Michonne." There is a collective gasp from everyone who didn't know which was everyone besides Hershel and myself.

"That why she ain't here?" Tyreese asks. Rick nods and there are more gasps.

"I was going to do that…to keep us safe." Rick says trying to justify what he had planned on doing.

"It wasn't your call Rick." Carol says quietly and sadly as to try not to upset him.

"I changed my mind. Now Merle took Michonne to fulfill the deal and Daryl went to stop him and I don't know if its too late." He pauses as he looks from the ground and locks eyes with me. I can tell instantly that he regrets what has happened. "I was wrong not to tell you and I am sorry. What I said last year that first night after the fall of the farm…it cant be lie that." Tyreese, Sasha and I look at each other confused. "It cant. What we do, what we're willing to do, who we are, its not my call. It cant be. I couldn't sacrifice one of us for the greater good, because we are the greater good. We're the reason we're still here. Not me. This is life and death. How you live…how you die- - it isn't up to me. I'm not your governor. We choose to go. We choose to stay. We stick together. We vote. We can stay and we can fight, or we can go." When he finishes talking, he turns and heads to the toward nearest to the gate. We all stand there, not talking, just taking in everything he said. Just as I was about to carry Lily inside to clean her up, Carl catches my attention.

"Is that Michonne?" I whip around and see him pointing to the gate. Upon looking over there, I see that it is in fact her and I quickly hand Lily to Glenn before making a dash to the gate along with the rest of the group. Wrapping my arms around her neck in a hug, she hesitates before returning the gesture.

"Are you ok? Did he hurt you again?" I question her as she shakes her head.

"He let me go." She says.

"Daryl left to track you both down." Rick says coming out of the tower to join us.

"I know. Ran into him on the way here. Cut the cord off my hands, told me not to let anyone go after him." Rick and I look at each other in confusion.

"We give him the night. If he isn't back tomorrow, then we go look for him." He decides. We all agree and separate to go about out own things. Hershel examines Michonne's wrists in the common room and I decide to wash Lily and Judith up before feeding them again and work with them on sitting up on their own and doing tummy time to strengthen their neck muscles more.

*A few hours later*

 _"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."_ I sang quietly to the girls as they started to drift off to sleep on the bed next to each other.

After they fall asleep, I stand up and release a heavy sigh that was from the stress of todays events. Removing my sweater to reveal my tank top, I grab the rag near my bowl that I have sitting on the top of the latrine in the corner, and get it wet to wipe myself down. There is a slight chill in the air so as I wipe my arms, goosebumps pop up in the waters path. Washing my face, I take my pants off and finish cleaning myself before getting into my warmer pajamas and pulling my sweater back on.

"Still mad at me?" Jumping up to the ceiling, I turn around and see Rick leaning against the door looking at me sheepishly.

"Scared the shit out of me. Is this scare Lacey day?" I ask. He chuckles quietly and looks down at the ground.

"Sorry. So are you?" he asks again. I sigh and grab the blanket from the top bunk to cover the girls up with so they stay extra toasty.

"I don't know Rick. I understand that you want to protect the group so much but going to those extremes, is wrong. In all honestly is shouldn't have even been an option. I cant help but to think 'what if the governor said that he wanted someone else? If he absolutely gave you his word and didn't mention wanting the prison or to kill us and that if we gave him who he wanted he would leave us alone. What is he wanted me for that? Or Maggie? Or even the girls?" I look up at him to see him stiffen up at the mention of the possibility of the governor asking for the girls and sigh. "I get that as the leader people look to you to lead and you have to make all the tough decisions but as you said earlier, everything will be a vote from now on. I don't know what happened after the farm since I wasn't there for it but I can only imagine. We should be making decisions as a group and let every option be put on the table and thought over. Even if it goes against the majority." Pausing to let what I said sink in, I cross my arms and walk closer to him till I am right in front of him.

Reaching my hand out I place it on the front of his jacket over his heart, just under where he was stabbed a few days ago. "Also, no more secret meeting with Hershel and Daryl. If this is going to work, no more secrets between us, unless its good." He smirks at me and places his hand over mine that is on his chest before reaching up and grasping the back of my head.

"Ok. I promise to never keep anymore secrets from you, unless they are good. But I really am sorry for everything that happened today and breaking the promise I made to you." He whispers leaning his forehead against mine.

"It is alright this time. Mostly because I don't have the energy to argue anymore. No sense in it." He kisses my forehead and lifts his head back up. "How's the shoulder?" I ask poking the spot of his jacket that is covering the still tender wound.

"OW!!! Still tender." He hisses pulling his shoulder away from my reach.

"Serves you right."

"I agree with Tyreese. You really are mean." He jokes making me laugh. "I'm gonna head out to the tower, wait for Daryl and keep watch. You headed to bed?" he asks.

"Yeah, trying to get them to bed completely wiped me out. Judy would fall asleep then Lily would wake up, id get her back to sleep then Judith would start crying or whimpering. Took longer than usual." I sigh tiredly, just as a yawn slips out.

"Get some sleep. I will come get Judith when I come in." I nod my head and kiss him on his cheek before he turns to head outside. Gently shifting the girls toward my pillow so they lay in the same direction as me, I play the extra pillow against the wall to keep some of the cold away from them before laying down nearly on the edge with Lily next to me and Judith close to her. Pulling the thickest blanket I have up, I cover us up and lay down. Quickly falling asleep.

Can nothing go wrong tomorrow? Please!


	16. chapter 16

**_*This chapter might likely be a filler so I just wanted to give you a heads up. Also I was gonna write a chapter centered around after Daryl found Merle and what happened when he returned to the prison but I honestly didn't think that it was turning out the way I wanted, so I just decided to skip it. I just wish the show would have showed more of him after Merle died then what they did. I always wondered how the man that was always closed off grieved his brother. So this chapter takes place before the season 3 finale and a few days after Merle died.* ALSO THERE IS SOME SMUT IN THIS CHAPTER AT THE END, THEY DON'T GO ALL THE WAY BUT FOREPLAY IS EXPECTED. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ, THEN PLEASE SKIP TO THE NEXT CHAPTER*_**

Today was the day. The day that my group was going to the store to hide out. Rick and Daryl were going to drive us there in the truck and the SUV. Carl, the girls, Sasha and I were going to ride in the SUV while Beth and Hershel road with Daryl in the truck that had the majority of our supplies in it. "Is that everything?" Rick asked me as I placed the last box of food in the back of the truck.

"Yep, Carol and I made sure that everyone had some food and water the tonight and tomorrow." I smiled reaching for the corner of the tarp and tying it down over the items in the back.

"Ok, good. Lets get everyone loaded up and get you all settled at the store. Wanna get back soon so we can finished getting everything set up."

"Ok, I will get the girls and Carl." He nods before kissing me on my cheek and heads inside to gather up our group. I quickly make my way over to the outdoor picnic table where Carl was sitting with the girls. "Time to go bud. You ok to hold Judith till we get there?"

"Yeah, should be fine. She's isn't going to poop on me is she?" I laugh quietly at him and shake my head.

"She shouldn't. Did that to your dad this morning so she should be good." He laughs loudly at that. "Lets get them into the car, the rest should be joining us soon." He grabs Judith and the small bag of baby stuff before he follows me to the car. Taking Judith in my free arm, while balancing Lily in the other, I make sure he is buckled into his seat before handing Judith over to him and helping him wrap the blanket securely around her. After closing his door, I make my way to my seat and climb in before buckling in and securing Lily to me.

"Ready to go?" Rick asks when he joins us along with Sasha.

"Yep, are they ready?" I ask gesturing toward the truck that Daryl, Hershel and Beth were in. He nods and starts the car.

"Lets hit the road." Everyone is quiet the entire way, aside from the girls who gurgle and coo the whole time. As we turn into the Walmart parking lot, Rick suddenly stops the car and my hand flies to the dashboard to catch myself as I lurch forward.

"The hell?" I question looking at him. His eyes are glued to the parking lot in shock. I follow his gaze and see what made him stop. A large herd of about sixty or so walkers are roaming across the open area, passing behind the Home Depot. Daryl pulls up close to us on Rick's side and the both roll down the windows.

"What do you wanna do?" Hershel asks Rick.

"Maybe if we are quiet, they wont notice us and just keep going." Sasha suggests. Rick looks at the herd then looks at me for a suggestion.

"Don't have much of a choice. This is the only place we all know is safe and is the meet up spot if the prison falls. It looks like its just about cleared now, might only find a few stragglers after the main part of the group passes. If we turn back we risk leading them straight to the prison."

"Alright, lets cut the engines and keep the windows up. Girls are asleep so they should be content for at least a little while." Rick suggests. Daryl nods as Hershel rolls up his window till there is a small gap at the top. After both vehicles are quiet, we sit in the silence and watch the walkers stumble past us. Awkwardly bumping into each other and stumbling over the stuff that was laying through the parking lot.

"Think we'll have any trouble getting in?" Carl asks from the back seat. I turn slowly in my seat to look at him.

"I don't think so. Maybe a couple walkers lingering like I said but I think that will be it." He nods his head and looks down at his sister asleep in his arms. "When we get inside, Sasha can you help me get the bed set up while everyone gets the vehicles unpacked? There are at least five camping cots and several air mattresses still in there. It will take a while to get the mattresses blown up since the pump is a foot pump for a bike tire that I rigged to fit the mattress hole. There are enough blankets, pillow and sheets for everyone to have a nice bed."

"Sure. Think we should head to the baby section first and grab everything we can. Especially beds for the girls." I nod my head in agreement and turn my attention to the front in time to see the tail end of the herd disappear to the other side of the Home Depot. We wait a few more minutes before starting the cars and making our way to the back and as predicted find a few stragglers.

"As soon as we get to the ramp, get that door open and get the girls inside. We will have to take care of the walkers before we can unload the supplies from either vehicle." Rick says as he rounds the side of the building to the back. "Well, never mind." He chuckles when he sees no sign of any walkers back here.

"I will still get the door opened quickly." He nods as he turns the car around and backs up at the bottom of the ramp. Holding Lily firmly to me, I make quick work on my seat belt and get out before dashing to the door, gripping it firmly and pulling it. After a few tries the door jerks open sharply and bangs against the metal railing loudly. "Sasha, wanna go grab the cribs for the girl?" I ask as she walks up the ramp with the first load of supplies. She nods and places the box on the floor against the wall near the door to the room we would all be staying in. Clicking on her flashlight, she jogs off in the direction to the door that leads out to the front of the store and disappears around the corner. "Let's get the girls settled in here one the blankets and get the stuff unloaded. When Sasha gets the pack-n-play, we can put them in there to nap while we organize everything."

"Alright, lets get too it. Stay alert. That herd can easily turn around and come back." Everyone nods at Rick's instructions and heads out to the vehicles while Carl and I take the girls into the room. Laying them down on the thick comforter that I had used while staying here, Hershel sits in the chair next to them as Carl leaves to grab the supplies from the car.

"I'm gonna go help them. Do you need anything?" I ask the older man. The world may have gone to shit but one thing my momma always told me was that I should always respect my elders no matter what the situation is.

"I think I will be alright for now." His mustache moves as he smiles and he lays his crutches down on the ground next to him. As I head out toward the door, Sasha enters the hallway with the pack-n-play.

"Hershel is in there with them, if you wanna set it up that would be awesome.. Just put them in there when you guys are done."

"Should I leave the bassinet insert in it or take it out so they are further down?" She asks stepping out of the way as Beth and Daryl come in with the first load.

"I think the insert should be ok with both of them in it for now. If everything goes ok tomorrow, they will each have their own anyways since we plan to clear this place out of everything useful."

"Alright. Ill join y'all when I'm finished." With a nod I turn and follow Beth and Daryl out the door, side stepping out of the way as Rick and Carl both walk up with crates full of stuff. Daryl hops up into the truck and starts pushing the stuff that is at the back of it toward the front and I grab as much as I can manage to carry. Brings back memories when Brandon and I would go grocery shopping and we would both race to see who can carry the most in one trip and the loser would have to get the rest of it while the other starts putting them away. I won most of the time, but I think that was because he would let me. He never knew it, but I knew he would watch me when I was grabbing bags to see how many I got. He always got one or two less than I did. He would always tease and say that I was stronger than him or something along those lines before leaving to get the rest of the bags. So, with both arms loaded up and a backpack on my back, I headed inside and placed everything in the far side of the room to get sorted.

"Did you leave any bags for the rest of us?" Carl teases making everyone that was in the room laugh.

"Yes I left some for you guys. Think Daryl has got the last load in the truck, just gotta grab the boxes from the car. I am gonna start getting everything organized and set up. Wanna be prepared in case you guys have to bail."

"Can I talk to you real quick?" Rick asks me quietly. I look over at Beth as she places Lily into the pack-n-play next to Judith.

"Hey Beth, would you and Carl both start getting the beds and cots set up for us and everyone else?"

"Sure." She turns to Carl and waves him over to help her.

"Lead the way." Rick takes my hand and pulls me out of the room and we head out to the front part of the store. When he keeps walking I start to wonder what was going on. Finally he we reach the furthest corner of the store which was the pets area. "You plan on getting a pet?" I tease gesturing toward the dog beds on the shelf behind me. I'm shocked when I am suddenly pushed against the shelves behind me and his lips are crashed to mind. He pulls me to him as close as he can and runs his tongue against my lips asking for permission. Things start to get heated from there and as I start to lose my breath I pull away and he moves to my neck, licking on the spot right next to my ear that has always sent shivers down my spine. "Rick." I whimper out softly as he places a gentle kiss to the spot he was just running his tongue across. "As much as I am enjoying this…are you gonna tell me what you wanted to talk about?" I ask gently pushing against his chest just so he pulls back enough to look me in the eyes.

"Yeah sorry." He takes a second to catch his breath before speaking. "I just wanted to say…with everything about to happen, it has got me thinking about some things. There have been a few things that have popped up in my thoughts a lot more than others, but the ones that have been constant were of Carl, Judith, Lily and you. The last couple months we have known each other, I have come to realize that even at the end of the world, love is still possible. I know usually it would be too soon to use the 'L' word but with me not knowing what will happen tomorrow, I feel like you should know how I feel." He says pushing some of my hair behind my ear.

"Rick…" I whisper reaching up and place my hand on his stubbly cheek.

"Let me finish." He smirks as I nod my head for him to continue.

"Back before all this happened, I would usually woo you for several months before bringing this up. I would take you out to a nice restaurant, order a fairly expensive but still affordable bottle of wine and we would talk about the kids. After we would take a walk down the street, holding hands enjoying the cool air of the night before heading home after a wonderful night. As we stood at your front door I would…softly run my knuckles down your jaw and look into your eyes before whispering those three words. Hopefully you would return the words and we would share a slow and gentle kiss. How I wish that I had that chance to do all of that, but unfortunately I don't. With the outcome of tomorrow being uncertain, I want you to know that I do love you Lacey. We have both seen how quickly thinks can end and how its not the best to keep words hidden until its too late. I have thought about it every day and I wish I could have told Lori that I was sorry for everything that happened, how I wish things could have worked out between the two of us and so much more. There was so much unresolved issues between us and words left unsaid that I regret everyday. But I'll be damned if I let that happen again. Even if I don't make it tomorrow, I will have said everything I have been meaning to say without regret. I don't expect you to say them back if that's not how you feel, I wouldn't ask you to lie just for the sake of my feelings. Id prefer it if you didn't say anything at all if you weren't able to say them if I'm being honest." He laughs softly.

"Well…as lovely as your other version sounds, I prefer this much more. I was never into the fancy and classy stuff. If we would have dated back then, you could have told me you loved me in front of a dumpster and I would have told you I loved you too right there. And I mean it, I feel like I have known you so much longer than just a few months and the way I feel for you is so much more than a simple I love you. But nothing is going to happen to you. To any of you. You are going to defend our home, you are going to defeat the governor. Then when this is all over, we will reunite at the prison and live happily ever after, well as happily as we can in a world filled with things that wanna eat us." We both laugh.

"I am so glad you found us that day." He whispers leaning down to place his forehead against mine.

"Well, technically it was Michonne that found you. I more or less tagged along. Had no choice since Lily was about to come out of me." My laugh echoes off the surround area making his smile widen.

 ***SLIGHT LEMON AHEAD!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!***

"Either way, I am glad." Pulling my face closer to his he brings our lips together and continues where we left off before talking. The gentle kisses turn into more passionate ones as he pushes me against the shelves once again and pins me there with his hips. As his hips comes in contact with mine, I can feel the bulge through the front of his jeans.

"Officer Grimes, is that a gun in your pocket?" My voice is layered with lust as I reach my hand down and rub it against the front of his jeans. He groans and pushes himself into my palm as I continue to grip him.

"Usually I would reply with something just as cheesy but I cant think of anything with you doing that." He growls thrusting his hand harder against my hand. I reach my hand up to the buckle of his holster and belt before making quick work on them. "Don't have much time." He moans as his pants open and allow him more room in the front.

"Don't need much." I smirk. He growls in the back of his throat and again starts attacking my lips, quickly winning the fight for dominance. His hands leave my waist and slip into the stretchy waist of my yoga pants, slipping them down just enough to gain access to my hot core. My heart starts pounding with nerves and excitement as the knuckles brush against the front of my core, right over my clit. Letting out a shaky gasp, I grab his arm with one hand while the other grips his shirt as he slips his hand into the front of my underwear and seeks out my clit through the thick curls that have become a new feature on me. I always kept myself clean and smooth down there, but with lack of proper showers and access to wax or even a good razor, it grew quickly. As soon as his fingers find my center like they were heat seeking missiles, my knees shake and jerk as he circles my clit a couple times.

"Damn Lacey. You so wet." He breaths in sharply against my face. "Look at me." My eyes snap up to his and I can see a twinkle of satisfaction that he was making me shake with need. He slows his circling as my breathing starts to hitch.

"Oh, please. Don't stop. Don't stop." I beg reaching down and pressing his hand back against me to try encourage him along. He laughs quietly at my begging and after a few more moments and a few threats, he finally gives me what I want. He starts to slip his hand toward my opening but I stop him. "Not now. I don't want your finger in me the first time we are intimate." I quickly say when I see the look of confusion on his face. When he nods I lean forward and place my lips on his as he starts circling my clit. As his hands starts to move fast against me, I lean my shoulders backwards against the shelf behind me and undo his jeans to allow the top of his erection to pop out. Pushing his jeans and boxers down his hips, his erection springs forward and bops against my hip before standing up long and hard. He groans at the suddenly relief of pressure and starts working my clit double time. "Oh shit. Oh shit, Rick." Gripping his wrist as he picks up the speed, I feel my orgasm rushing quickly toward me.

"Come for me baby. Come on." He whispers. My legs are shaking by this point and my hips jerking at every rub and swirl of his fingers. Suddenly, as if someone has poured ice cold water over me, my body freezes and tightens up as my orgasm crashes down over me. I grip his arm with my left and at the same time my other hand reaches out to try to keep me standing. My head smacks against the shelving behind me and I bit my lip to keep myself from screaming out. "That's it Lacey. Give it to me." He growls kissing the length of my neck that is now exposed. He continues his ministrations slowly, causing my entire body to jerk and shudder in pleasure.

"Oh my god, holy shit." I gasp out as my upper body jerks against his chest. "My god that was good." I sigh as I start to come down from my high. He pulls his hand out of my panties and pulls my pants back up over my hips before wiping his hand on his shirt. I open my eyes too look at him and he is clearly satisfied at his handy work. The cocky smirk on his face makes it clear that he is. Placing my hand over my chest, I can feel my heart racing. "I love you." I chuckle pulling him in for another kiss.

"Glad you enjoyed yourself." He smirks.

"More than you know. Now, allow me to take care of you." Slowly kneeling down to my knees, I grip the base of his penis and stroke him. He groans as he leans forward against the shelf and over me. Looking up at him as I continue to stroke him, I see that he is watching what I am doing. Leaning to the side so he can see, I lean forward and run my tongue along the vein that runs from the swollen head down toward his balls.

"Oh god." He groans sucking in a deep breath through clenched teeth. As I reach the tip of his swollen head, I swirl my tongue around it and before drawing the little pearl that emerged from it. Looking up to make sure he was watching, I keep my eyes locked with his before slowly sliding my mouth down his shaft until I cant go any further. As he brushes against the back of my throat, I swallow around the tip and he grips my hair firmly holding me in place. "Shit shit shit shit. Do that again. Please." He begs. Giving him what he wants. I stroke the part of his shaft that remains out of reach of my mouth and swallow a few more times. Drawing back, my hand follows the wet path my spit made and I reverse as I swallow him back in.

Continuing this for a few minutes, Rick spreads his legs a little further till his jeans stop him. Removing my hand from his shaft, I slide my hands to his thighs and push my face as close to his cluster of curls at the base of his cock where he has a visible 'V' over his hips. Picking the pace up I continue to swallow his length, working him toward his own high. As he jerks up suddenly and grips my head I can tell that he is close. "Lacey…I am...gonna go." He grunted warning me. I moaned around him and gave him a thumbs up, letting him know I was ok. "God dammit." He growls loudly. Gripping my hair tightly in his hands he lets out a groan that he tries to keep in but it slips out and he gives a couple shuddering thrusts as he explodes into my mouth. Relaxing the back of my throat, I continue to swallow around him as he continues to let himself go. Milking it out of him, I close my lips around him tightly as I pull back and release his over worked cock. Giving it one last lick, he groans and pulls away from me as my tongue makes contact with his overly sensitive tip. He continues to lean against the shelving over me, resting his head on his forearm, trying to regain control of his breathing. Chuckling softly to myself, I wipe the corner of my mouth on the sleeve of my t-shirt and stand up. He leans back as I stand in front of him between his arms. "Whoo." He sighs, bending down to pull his boxers and pants up to tuck himself back in and re-buckle his belt and holster. "That was-" he tries to say but is cut off by his own exhausted sigh.

 ***LEMON ENDS!!!!***

"You're welcome." I laugh. He chuckles as he finishes adjusting his belt and holster. We stay in our little bubble for a little while longer, coming down from our highs.

"I really wasn't expecting for that to happen." He chuckles after a while. "Not complaining but I didn't even think about any of it happening this soon. Glad it did though. Best I had in a long time." I cant help but chuckle.

"Well, Brandon was the only guy I was ever with so I have nothing really to compare it too. Although, he never made me cum that hard with just rubbing me."

"Well then, glad I could be your first for that. Next time, I'll make you see stars." He quietly growls, leaning toward me and placing a firm kiss on my lips.

"We should be headed back. Don't need anyone coming to look for us."

"TOO LATE!!!" Sasha's voice echoes loudly from somewhere in the store, but close to us. My face immediately flares up as my face turns the shade of a fire engine. Not even a second later Sasha and Daryl walk around the corner at the other end of the aisle. "Now that you both are decent, everything is unloaded." She says smirking at the both of us. Slipping behind Rick I groan in embarrassment as I place my face into his back. Feeling the vibrations of his laugh, I reach my hand around and pinch at his stomach.

"Now that y'all are done, lets get back there." Daryl says holding his crossbow at his side. I quickly walk ahead of everyone, trying to get away from the awkward situation. As I pass Daryl, I can see the familiar smirk slide over his face. He lets out a quiet laugh when I playfully glare at him before hurrying to the back.

They were never going to let us live that down. As soon as we get back to the prison, I know the news will spread like a wildfire.

 _YAAAAY_!

 ** _*There you have it. A little Lacey/Rick lemony action. Too soon? I don't think it is. I mean if I were in there shoes and had unsaid feelings or words, I would want the other person to know how I feel and what I had to say. Even now in the real world I try not to leave things unsaid because you never know when its too late. But anyway, the next chapter is will be split between the prison group that is fighting (Rick, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, Carol, Tyreese and Michonne) and the Walmart group (Lacey, Beth, Carl, Hershel and of course the girls.) I have been trying to decide if Lacey's group should have walker trouble and have to have their own fight or if it should be a laid back. I really want Lacey to have more action against the walkers and stuff but trying to come up with the scenarios is proving to be a challenge for me. Please let me know if you have any ideas. I have some ideas for season 4 for Lacey but for the canon chapters, I really don't have many. But let me know!!*_**


	17. chapter 17

*In this chapter it is going to flip between the group at the prison and the group at the store a few times.*

 ***3rd person POV***

Morning for Rick and the rest of the group came early. Nobody got much sleep as they were busy getting prepared and making sure they were ready. Tyreese, Glenn and Carol were busy gathering walkers while Maggie and Michonne placed food and water in the places people were hiding in case they were pinned down and couldn't leave. Rick checked the cars to make sure they were topped off on all fluids and gas. They were going to hide them in the woods just outside the prison out of sight. They were prepared and ready to get it over with. As the rest of the group was waiting outside, Rick walked through the cell block checking to make sure they had gotten everything. As he was walking down the stairs, Michonne stood at the bottom. "We're ready." Rick nods and continues down the steps. "The deal the governor offered about me—you had to think about it. You had to. I get it." Michonne whispered as she walked along side Rick.

"Yeah, Lacey wasn't happy about it. But I came close and for the I am sorry."

"But you didn't." Rick nods at her words and sighs. "I never thanked you."

"For what?" Confusion is etched on his face as he looks at her, stepping through the doorway and closing the barred doors behind him.

"For getting us out there that day, taking us in."

"Well, if you hadnt had the formula and Lacey wasn't about to give birth…I probably wouldn't have." He admitted.

"You could have just taken the formula." Michonne pointed out.

"I could have. But with lacey in labor, it wasn't right. You know, it was carl who made the call to bring you in. he said you both belonged here, that you were one of us." Michonne couldn't help the small smile that danced across her face.

"Well then, I am glad he made that call." She says before leaving Rick.

 **Lacey and the group***

"We might have a problem." I look over toward Sasha as she points toward the front of the building to the parking lot. She managed to find the hatch that gave us access to the room and we agreed that it would be the best spot to take watch considering we could see farther. Walking toward her I look out at the parking lot and see the small group of walkers that had gathered the last several hours and havent really made any movement to leave the area.

"Yeah I was afraid we would. Think all the activity yesterday stirred them up and drew them to the area." I whisper looking over the ledge toward the two sets of doors on either side of the building were more groups were hanging out at. "The amount we got now shouldn't be enough to do anything, but if it keeps growing then we will have a major situation. Last thing we need now is for a herd to form with everything else is going on." Sasha nods in agreement as we survey the area.

"Think we would be able to thin them out? Do a quick run through and take out as many as we can?" It wasn't a bad idea. Quickly looking over the area, I notice the some of the groups towards the back have started turning away and heading away from the store, lessening the numbers that were occupying the lot.

"Should be able to. If they keep leaving like those back there then we shouldn't have that much of a problem." Just as I finish saying that, the faint sound of gun fire can be heard as it echoed through the area. I thickly swallow as a ball of fear had risen into my throat and felt like it was suffocating me. "Its started." I whispered quietly but Sasha heard me regardless.

"I am sure our group will be fine. They have a great plan and everybody knows their place and job." Nodding my head, I know she is right. Still, it doesn't calm the nerves in my stomach.

"Lets head down and see if Hershel will be ok with the girls, have Carl and Beth take over for us while we got down there. It seems the fight has gotten their attention so now would be the best time to do it." Watching as the walkers start to move away from the store and toward the sound of the fight, we turn and quickly make our way toward the open hatch. As we make it back inside we head to the room and see Beth placing a sleeping Judith into the crib.

"How is it out there?" Hershel questions, setting down the book he had been reading.

"Its started. Can hear the gunshots faintly but its drawn the walkers attention to it instead of here. Sasha thought it would be good to go out and take care of as many as we can before there are too many for us to do anything. With the fight pulling them away from us, now might be the best time to do it. Go out the back and around the building and just do a quick run through before making our way back in." I explain. "would you be ok with the girls for a bit?"

"We would need the two of them up on the roof to look out. Make sure that none of them sneak up behind us." Hershel nods as Sasha finishes.

"I believe we will be just fine. They should be ok for a while." Hershel smiles looking down at the girls who were tucked under their own blankets.

"Ok, you two get up on the roof. Only use your guns if they get too close. Do you both have silencers for?" They both nod and show me their guns. "Ok, lets go." I look at Sasha who nods her head and we head to the back door while Beth and Carl climb the ladder to the roof. Slowly opening the back door, I glance out before looking back at Sasha. "Looks clear for now." She nods her head and we slip out, slowly and quietly closing the door.

"You lead, I got your back." She whispered as we make our way down the ramp. Staying on alert, I continue to examine the area around us for signs of any new stragglers. Slipping my rifle onto my back, I pull my knives out of the holders on my thighs as we make it to the corner. I lift my hand as we pause and glance around the corner, not seeing many walkers I nod my head and gesture for us to move. With quiet moves we quickly take out the few that were at the side of the building before making out way back to the building to keep our backs to it. Hearing a sharp whistle, I look up and see Beth leaning over the ledge from the roof. She points to the front closest to us and signals that there are at least ten walkers. With a thumbs up she disappears and i look to Sasha. "That's her way of telling us that there are at least ten right around the corner, if not more."

"Ok, should we separate them and handle them that way or stick together?" she asks.

"We could try seperating them. Keep moving and stay close to the building but take out as many as possible. What do you think?"

"Could work. Quick run through and run back around to the door." Nodding my head in agreement, we ready our knives and round the corner.

 ***3rd person, Prison group***

It all started and ended so fast. Faster than any of the group could have expected. Almost as soon as the Woodbury "soldiers" ran into the prison, guns at the ready, they were running back.

Surprised by the sudden gun fire that was exploding around them. At first, they had thought that the prison group had abandoned the prison and ran, but were surprised to find out that they indeed hadnt. They were ready for them. Waiting with smoke grenades, walkers and the surprise attack in the court yard. They were far more prepared than they were and Rick, along with the others, were more than ecstatic when the Woodbury group fled with their tails between their legs. As the group came out and met at the gate to the field, nobody could help but feel hopeful that just maybe they had finally won. "We did it. We drove 'em out." Rick chuckled coming to a stop next to Glenn.

"We should go after them." Michonne encouraged joining the rest of the group.

"We should finish it." Michonne looked at Daryl, shocked that he agreed.

"It is finished. Didn't you see them high-tail it out of here?" Maggie questioned. After what she and Glenn went through she was really hesitant to even go near that place again. Fear of it all happening again stopped her from wanting to follow them.

"They could regroup." Everyone looked around at each other as two sides formed amongst the group.

"We cant take the chance. Hes not going to stop." Glenn was stuck on the fence. He knew that they had to follow to finish it but then again he didn't want to go.

"They're right. We can't keep living like this." Rick looked around the group as everyone shared their opinions on the situation, thinking which was the best way to go.

"So we take the fight back to Woodbury. We barely made it back last time."

"I don't care." Rick look towards Daryl as he shared his thoughts. They all knew that going to Woodbury could very well be a death sentence but so could staying and waiting for a counter attack. Before a final decision was made, he needed to check in with Lacey and Hershel.

"Yeah, before we do anything. Need to check on the others." Rick pulls out his walkie that he grabbed from the Walmart office.

"Lacey, Hershel…you there?"

 ***Lacey's group***

It had been about an hour since Sasha and I had cleared out some of the walkers. Most of them were drawn away by the echoing gun fire far in the distance so it was actually really easy. It took us probably about five minutes and we had probably killed about twenty or so. Afterward Beth and Carl both said they would stay on watch for a bit so we could get something to eat and I could take care of the girls. But I made my way back to the roof as soon as I could. I wanted to make sure that the rest of the group was protected, with the help of Sasha. Looking through the binoculars that Rick left with me, I jump when Carl's voice makes me jump as he yells from me. "LACEY!" Almost dropping the binoculars I fumble with them before swearing at how jumpy I was. Making my way to the open hatch I lean over to see the young boy smiling at me.

"What ya little shit?" This makes him laugh.

"Scared you didn't i?" he teases making me glare at him with a playful smirk on my face.

"What's going on? Everything ok?" I ask hoping that it was nothing serious.

"It's dad. He is on the walkie." Fear slightly courses through me in hope that everyone had made it out ok.

"Ok, coming down." I set the binoculars down on the gravel roof and quickly climb down the ladder without killing myself on the metal steps. "Whats wrong?" I question when I walk into the room seeing Hershel holding the walkie and everyone else gathered around.

"Ok Rick. We're all here."

 _"Just chekin' in. Everything ok there?"_ I cant help but smile at the sound of Rick's voice.

"Yeah, we're all good here. Had a small walker issue but they were pulled away from us by the sound of the gun fire." Hershel replies.

 _"I am sure they are headed our way still then. Hopefully they end up pulling off in a different direction."_

"How is everyone there?" He asks. We all were wondering the same thing as we all had people there that we loved.

 _"Well…we won. Sorta. They high-tailed it out of here. Group is divided on if we should go after them and finish it there._ " Multiple emotions cross over everyones face. Walking closer to Hershel I hold my hand out.

"Mind if I talk to him?"

"Not at all." He smiles handing me the black walkie.

"Rick?"

" _Lacey. Hey_." The smile that crosses my face makes Sasha and Beth snicker. I look at them and roll my eyes.

"Hey hon. Are you sure going after them is the best option?"

 _"Uh, I'm not a hundred percent sure. But we gotta keep going. He isnt going to stop, especially not now."_

"Ok. If you think that you should go after them then I think that everyone will trust your judgement. Is it safe to come back to the prison?"

 _"For the most part it is, but for now just hang tight. We will come get you_." Sighing I rest my forehead against the walkie. Feeling a small hand slip into mine, I look to see Carl standing next to me holding my hand.

"I need to tell him something." He says and takes the walkie when I hand it to him. "Dad."

 _"Carl. How you doing? Taking care of everyone I hope_." Rick's joke makes everyone smile.

"Dad, I want to go with you. I can help." My jaw drops open at his words.

 _"I know you can Carl. But you have to stay there. You are helping out there with Judy, keeping everyone there safe."_ At Rick's words Carl huffs and shoves the walkie back into my hand before walking out of the room. " _Carl_?"

"He uh- he walked out." I respond quietly. Knowing that I will have to go comfort the young Grimes.

" _Yeah, I thought so. He is in such a hurry to grow up. Just want him to try to keep as much of his innocence as he can. He's just a kid."_

"Its hard to forget sometimes that he is just a kid. Especially in the world we live in now. He will be ok though. I am sure in the future he will come to realize that everything you have done and will do is for his best interest." As his soft chuckle my smile widens.

 _"Lets hope so. You'll talk to him for me?"_ He questions.

"That goes without question."

" _Thank you. Listen, I will radio you tomorrow morning. Think it would be best to get you all in the morning. After the dust settles."_

"Ok, but if I don't hear from you by noon tomorrow I am getting in that car and coming to find you myself."

 _"You wont have to_." I can tell he is lowering his voice to have a more intimate conversation. Turning to walk to the other side of the room I turn the volume down so only I could hear.

"That's not guaranteed Rick."

" _I know_." We're both quiet for a few seconds. I myself was trying to keep from letting my emotions burst out of me. _"I love you Lacey. I will come back to you. You and the kids."_ Smiling sadly to myself, I wipe the small tear from my cheek that managed to escape without my permission.

"I love you too. You better radio first thing in the morning. When the first rays of the sun are showing." I try to sound like I was threatening.

 _"I will. I promise_."

"Ok. Be safe." I sigh.

 _"Always babe."_ At the sound of static, I shut the walkie off before dropping it onto my cot that I slept on last night. Taking a minute to reign in my fear and anxiety before I go in search of Carl.

Feeling the pressure of a hand on my shoulder, I jump and clasp my hand over my heart as it thumps sharply in my chest at being startled.

"Jesus-H!! Scared the hell out of me Beth." I sigh looking at the blonde teen as she laughs hysterically.

"Sorry! Just wanted to make sure you were ok." She chuckles.

"Before or after the heart attack?" I ask turning to sit on the edge of my cot, heart still racing.

"Before." I pick up my pillow and chuck it at her as she continues to laugh.

"Yes I am fine. Preparing myself to go talk to Carl."

"Well everyone will be ok and as for Carl, I am sure he will understand that its best if he stays here."

"I hope you are right Beth. Think I best go look for him." Patting her shoulder, I stand up and make my way out of the room. I start my search with the roof seeing at it was right there but only Sasha was up there who said that he hadnt been up there. Making my way out to the front of the store, I try to think of where he could have gone. "Carl?" My voice echoes through the building. I hope he would call out to let me know where he was but I don't get a reply. Quickly making my way through the store I search in every area that he could possibly be. "CARL! I NEED YOU TO ANSWER ME!!" After searching for five minutes with no site or sound of him I have started to panic a bit. "DAMN IT CARL!! WHERE ARE YOU?" I am pretty sure I have ran laps through the entire store at least three times now thinking that I may have passed him or just missed him in case he was hiding from me. Making my way back to the front near the blockade of carts, I spin around trying to think of where he would have gone. I had searched the entire building and havent seen him. Suddenly, through the only window of the sliding front doors that isnt blacked out, a faint figure in the distance draws my attention as the sunlight reflects off of the object. Walking closer, I can barely make out the figure but the hat the figure is wearing instantly makes my heart drop to my toes as I see Carl darting across the parking lot before disappearing around the other side of Home Depot. "CARL!!!!"

*THE END!!!!*

*JUST KIDDING!!! What did you think??? this chapter was pretty hard for me, actually re-wrote it probably 13 times before deciding to just go with ths version. I have other chapter finished and ready to be uploaded, i was thinking about starting to upload on sundays just like the show does but not sure what time. does anyone remember if the fighting episode was the mid-season finale or was it after the got woodbury moved in?? i cant remember, please let me know.*


	18. Chapter 18

**_*JUST KIDDING!!!!! I would have smacked myself if I even tried to end it there. HAHA! Had to leave you on your toes though. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. This chapter will mostly be Lacey POV with some other POVs as well…possibly. Not sure just yet. Anyways, Enjoy!!*_**

Running as fast as I could back to the room, I grab my back pack and toss a few items into it that I might need. "Lacey, what's going on?" Hershel asks. I hear the click-clack of the crutches as he makes his way over to me.

"Carl. Apparently he decided he was going to sneak out and leave. Saw him booking it across the parking lot and disappear at the front of Home Depot. I have to go after him." I rush out while grabbing a couple bottles of water, cereal bars, and the first aid kit.

"Now hold on now. Rick told us to stay here. I think we should radio them to let them know what is going on." He suggested.

"I cant. Before he left here, we agreed that we would only turn the walkies on every couple hours in case on an emergency. Try to make the batteries last longer. Seeing as we just talked to them about twenty minutes ago, there isn't a way to reach them right now. Rick left me in charge of him and Judy and I cant let anything happen to him. I am assuming he is heading back to the prison so I know the general area to take." Just as I finish talking Sasha come rushing back into the room.

"I just saw Carl taking off through the lot." She clearly rushed in here to tell us as she was gasping.

"I know. Saw him through the front door. I need you to stay here and keep an eye on things. I packed some stuff for the two of us in case something happens. I hope if I take the car I can catch up to him and get him back here. There was another walkie in the office, turn it onto channel 4. Batteries should be ok, I will check in every twenty minutes. If its longer than that, don't worry I might just be talking to him. If it is longer than an hour, which should be about the time that it would be to check in with Rick then let him know what is going on. Something might have happened."

"What about the girls?" Beth questions.

"They should be ok for right now. They ate more than normal today so they should be alright for a little bit longer. If you have to, give Lily formula and Judy the rest of the milk bottle. Its not that far from here to the prison but since his is walking and a child, it will take longer."

"Ok. Make sure you take your weapons." Hershel said. Nodding my head I slip my gun into the holster over my torso and slip the knives into my thigh straps. I make my way over to the girls and look down at them as they move around in the crib.

"I will be right back babies. Be good for grandpa Hershel and Auntie Beth and Sasha. They will keep you safe." I bend down to kiss Lily on the face several times and repeat the kisses on Judith. "I'll be back as soon as I can." At their nods, I turn and book it out to the car. Tossing my back pack into the passenger seat, I crank the ignition and put into drive just as soon as the door is closed and speed out of their. I cant believe Carl would risk himself like this. I understand that he wants to help out more but he doesn't need to be involved in stuff like that.

Pulling out onto the main road I head south down the road that leads back to the prison. There are woods on my right side and building, houses and more on the left. Thankfully the sun was still high in the sky so it would make its hopefully a bit easier to find him. Trying to keep an eye out for him is a lot more difficult than I thought. I wasn't a tracker like Daryl so I couldn't really track him. I would probably end up just taking myself in a circle following my own steps. Also not knowing if he was taking the woods or ducking behind buildings to stay hidden, also complicated things more. I would assume that he would take the woods as a short cut but I cant be too sure.

"Come on Carl. Where are you?" I whisper quietly. Coming across an old dirt road that leads into the woods about ten minutes later I decide to pull over and take the road into the woods. I should be ahead of him by now so if he took the woods he would cross through the dirt road to cross to the other side of the woods. Putting the car into park, I pull the keys out of the ignition and grab the pack before climbing out. Not wanting anyone to take the car while I was looking for him I slip the keys into my back pocket before slipping the pack over my shoulders.

As I am adjusting the straps on my shoulders to fit better, I hear a faint ticking sound. Looking toward where the sound was coming from, a little ways down the road, Carl appears out from behind a house with a bike that he must have been riding to make it this far. "CARL!!!" His head whips around at the sound of his name and he quickly drops the bike before sprinting across the four land road and slipping into the woods. At that point, I myself have taken off and was running as fast as I could to where he entered the woods. "Carl! I swear you better get back here!" I continue to yell for him as I ran. Hoping he would finally stop…but he doesn't.

Finally reaching the spot he disappeared, I enter right behind him. Thankfully the trees are spaced apart and not close together because it would make it hard to move around. Taking up a jogging pace, I try to find which way he went. Coming to a stop I stand in one spot and try to listen for leaves crunching or sticks snapping or even try to spot him. "Carl, bud, if you are close by and can hear me. Please come out. You can't just run away because something doesn't go your way. Your dad is trying to keep you safe. Trying to keep us all safe and he can't do that if he is worried about you if he let you go to Woodbury. I understand that you want to do more to help out but right now, you are doing the complete opposite of helping out. Right now you are putting yourself and me in danger with coming out here. You are taking away protection from the girls. Yeah Sasha, Beth and Hershel will protect them but not as well as you can Carl."

Allowing the woods to fall back into its natural sound of the wind blowing the trees, crickets singing in the distance and birds singing in the trees, I manage to spot the brim of his hat peeking out from behind a tree about fifty feet from in front of me. Sighing in relief I start to make my way over toward, acting like I hadn't seen him.

"Ya know. I used to be just like you when I was your age. It was just my mom and I after my dad left. She ended up working three jobs to pay all of the bills, put groceries in the house and so much. I wanted to help out as much as I could. I had to grow up fast. With her working all the time, I had to learn how to take care of myself. Learned how to cook, learned how to use the correct cleaning supplies, and more…and I was a year younger than you. I was so eager to help her out that I saved up every last penny I got to put toward the bills. She never took any of it but it never stopped me from saving it up to help. I am not really sure anymore how it relates to you but where I was trying to go with it was, even though you are eager to help out….you need to learn the difference between when it is ok to help and when its not and right now is not the time to help." I finally make it to the tree that he is behind and pause on the other side of it. "Carl, do you get what I am saying?" I question. After a few seconds of silence I step around the tree. "Carl?" As I step around, I am greeted with an empty space and find his hat hanging from a snapped branch. "You little shit." I growl to myself before snatching the hat from the tree. I look around hoping to find out which way he went but I see absolutely no sign of him. "Damn it." I make quick work on slipping the hat into my back pack before slipping it back on and darting in the direction that the prison is in.

Coming to the edge of the woods that meet the road that leads to the turn off toward the prison I freeze in my steps at the sight of the large group of walkers that Is in front of me. Remaining in the cover of the trees I watch silently as they continue to shamble down the road. Hearing a branch snap behind me I quickly spin around and come face to face with the decaying mouth of a walker. Moving away from it I manage to trip over a large branch that had fallen to the ground, allowing the walker to fall on top of me. "Shit shit!" I continue to hold it up off of me while trying to reach one of my knives that are secured on my thigh. I can feel my left arm starting to shake as I use all my strength to keep it off of me. Thankfully I manage to pull my knife out and with one last burst of energy I shove the walker upwards and thrust my knife upwards just in time for my arm to give out and bring the male walker down toward me. I managed to stab it from under his chin and as I lay there for a minute, I can unfortunately smell the rotten and decaying coming from its open mouth. Nausea suddenly rolls through me and I push it to the side before turning over and hurling into the dirt and leaves. Reaching into the side holder I grab the bottle of water and swish some in my mouth before spitting it onto the ground and take a couple gulps. I notice as I lean back against the tree and look around for any other walkers that the growls from the group have gotten quiet.

"I am gonna feed that boy to the walkers when I get my hands on him." Realizing that is was about the time to check in with the others, I pull out the walkie and turn it on. "Sasha, you there?" for a few seconds I hear nothing but static before anyone replies.

" _Lacey_?" Its Beth.

"Yeah, its me."

 _"Have you found Carl yet?"_

"I have been following him through the woods. The little shit hung his hat on a broken twig and used it as a distraction. I am on the outskirts of the woods near the road that leads to the turn off for the prison."

 _"You alright? You haven't had any trouble have you?"_ Hershel asks.

"Not too much. I managed to catch up to the group of walkers that was at the store I am pretty sure. Had an issue with one walker, think I might have twisted my ankle falling over a large tree trunk." I explain pulling up my pant leg to look at my ankle that was currently throbbing in my boot.

 _"Are you alright? Do you need me to come get you_?" Sasha asks.

"Nah, I'm alright. Its not really swollen, just tender. Have you heard from Rick or anyone?"

" _Lacey_?" The new voice startles me.

"Glenn?"

 _"Yeah, hey, um you guys ok over there?_ " he questions.

"When I left everything was ok."

 _"What do you mean when you left?"_ Maggie's voice is nervous.

"Carl, he uh- he didn't take Rick's answer to him wanting to help too well. Decided that he would take it upon himself to ditch us and I am not currently chasing him through the woods towards the prison. I had a visual of him about thirty minutes ago or so but he used his hat as a decoy to get away."

" _I'll go keep an eye out."_ At Maggie's words I can hear the clear upset in her voice. Think Carl is in for an ear full from the farmers daughter who thinks of him as her younger brother of sorts.

"Alright, I am about twenty or so minutes away from you guys. Sasha, can you and Beth start packing stuff up into totes so it is ready to go when we leave?"

 _"Yeah, will be easy considering you organized everything by department_." She laughs.

"It made it easier to find stuff. Anyways I am headed toward you Glenn. See you shortly." Standing up with the help of the tree behind me, I test out my sore ankle to see if it hurts to much to put pressure on.

 _"Cool, see you soon_."

 _"Be carful Lacey."_

"Will do Beth. I will radio you guys in forty minutes to let you know I made it. Turning my walkie off now." Without waiting for a response I click it off and clip it to my belt. Taking a few tester steps to see how bad my ankle it, I am glad to find out that it doesn't hurt too bad right now. It will probably hurt a lot more after the rest of the trip but for now its ok.

* ** _Time skip*_**

"Damn it." I hiss leaning against a tree to rest my ankle. I can sorta make out the prison through the trees just up ahead and decide to radio Glenn to let him know I was there. My ankle had gotten worse since I started walking against and its obviously swollen now as my boot is starting to get too small. Clicking the radio back I hope that Glenn still has his on. "Glenn, Maggie…you guys there?" Static. "Glenn? Its Lacey." I try a couple more times before deciding to just finish the trip.

Stumbling through the thick area of the woods, was proving difficult with my hurt ankle but I eventually break through the trees and gasp at what I see before me. Two of the guard towers were smoking, looking as if they were blown up, and walker bodies were littering the yard. It looked like world war III had taken place, I guess in some strange way it had. As I take a look around, the sound of a gun going off and a bullet making contact with a tree next to me makes me drop down to the ground. "STOP!!! ITS ME!!!!" I yell at the top of my lungs.

"LACEY!?" Carol's voice echoes through the air.

"YEAH!!" I remain on the ground for a second, not knowing if she heard me or not. "CAN I STAND UP OR ARE YOU GONNA SHOOT ME!?" I yell teasingly.

"SORRY!!" I can hear the laughter in her voice and stand back up to my feet before making my way toward the gravel road and head up. Seeing Carol, Maggie and Glenn standing at the top of the drive, waiting to pull the fence back makes me smile. Maybe we really could win this and everything would be alright. "It is so good to see you" Carol smiles as Maggie and Glenn pull the gate backwards. As I walk through the opening, they place it back and Carol pulls me into a hug.

"Glad you guys are ok. I see the governor left his mark." I reply gesturing toward the gate and the two smoking towers.

"Yeah, but our mark will be a lot bigger." Looking at the cocky smirk on Carol's face makes me laugh.

"Any sign of Carl?" Seeing the unsure expressions on their faces makes me worry. "He's not here?"

"He uh…he is. He showed up not long after we finished talking." Glenn answered.

"He ok?"

"Physically he is, as far as I can tell. He wasn't exactly happy when he noticed that Rick and the rest of them were gone. Shut himself in his cell, hasn't come out since." I can see the uncertainty on Maggie's face. She doesn't know how to handle the situation.

"Well he is about to come out. He's about to get an ear full from me." I growl heading toward the cell block. Quickly making my way inside without hurting my ankle any further, I march right up to where he is hiding and yank the cell door open. Seeing him sitting on the bottom bunk with his back pressed up against the wall and his knees tucked up under his chin almost makes me falter.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU BOY?" I stop in front of him and look at him, waiting for an answer. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED EVERYONE, INCLUDING MYSELF, HAVE BEEN? DO YOU NOT KNOW THE DANGER YOU PUT YOURSELF INTO OUT THERE?"

"I'm sorry." His words are barely above a whisper but I catch on to what he is saying.

"YOU'RE SORRY!? Carl, do you not understand the magnitude of the situation? You could have gotten severely hurt out there…or worse. Had you come across a herd of walkers and you might not be here right now. Not only did you put yourself in danger but you also put me in danger by leaving."

"WELL YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO FOLLOW! THAT'S NOT MY FAULT!" His sudden outburst shocks me. "NOBODY MADE YOU LEAVE AND FOLLOW ME, THAT WAS ON YOU. I WAS JUST FINE ON MY OWN AS YOU CAN SEE. STOP TREATING ME LIKE A CHILD, I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF! JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE WITH MY DAD, DOESN'T INSTANTLY MAKE YOU MY MOM."

Not knowing how to reply to that, I decide to take a different approach since yelling wasn't getting us anywhere. Taking a few moments to compose ourselves, Carl moves to the other end of the bed to face away from me.

"But you are a child Carl. If you want to be treated as an adult then you need to start thinking like an adult. And as for me not having to follow you, you are wrong. I did. If I hadn't followed you and something happened to you, that would have been on me."

"But nothing did happen."

"Thank god for that but that is not the point. You can't just take off because something doesn't go your way, not in the new world. If you want to be alone so you can throw a temper tantrum, that's fine but you don't take off and run away."

"I wasn't throwing a tantrum."

"Sure as hell looks like it too me."

"Well what do you know? You aren't my mom, so you have no right to even be yelling at me." Looking at him I can see that this conversation isn't going anywhere.

"I know I'm not your mom Carl, you may think that I don't have a right to be getting on to you but you're wrong. You're father put me in charge of you, so that right there gives me the right. It's not my place to dish out punishments but until your father gets back I am taking your gun and you are to remain in here."

"You cant do that!" he jumps up from the bunk and as I grab the gun from the mattress.

"Yes I can and I am." I slip my back pack off my shoulder and rest it on the small metal table that is attached to the wall. Pulling out a few items, I place them on the table next to my bag. "Here are a couple cereal bars and water. If you want to act like a child, then you are going to be treated like a child." I zip back up my back pack and walk out. Before he can rush to the door, I quickly shut it in his face and lock it with the keys that I snagged from Glenn before coming in here. Looking at him through the bars, I see his eyes start to water and look away. It was breaking my heart to have to do this but this was the only way I could guarantee that he would remain safe. "I'm sorry Carl. You have to learn." With that I turn and walk away. Heading out of the cell block I stop when I see Carol and Maggie sitting at the table, looking at me.

"You did the right thing." Carol whispers.

"I know. He may not see it that way but it is. He acted recklessly and it's the only way I can show him the consequences." I sigh sitting down next to Maggie. "He has no idea how terrified I was when I saw him running across that parking lot. I thought I was watching him run to his death. In all honesty, while I was looking for him all I could think about was how I was going to have to tell Rick what happened, how would I tell him, would he make Lily and I leave. Would you all blame me and make us leave or something worse. I know I would blame myself if anything happened to him. God it was like watching Brandon dying all over again. That same fear I had that could knock you off your feet."

"Well, thankfully we wont have to find out what would have happened. He is safe, you're safe, were all safe for the most part." I look at Carl and cant help the small smile that slips on my face at her encouraging words.

"Yeah, for the most part." Rubbing my hands across my cheeks to wipe away that tears that had managed to escape. "Think Rick will be mad at me for practically grounding Carl?"

"Nah, if anything he would have done the same thing." Maggie chuckles.

"Now, lets take a look at that ankle. Glenn thinks one of us should head back to the others with you. Stop to get the other car and finish getting everything loaded into the totes." Carol said grabbing the first aid kit that was left here.

"Would that be wise, leaving only two to guard the prison?" Lifting my leg up onto the seat in front of her, I lift up my pant leg and she helps me remove my boot.

"It should be ok. We don't think anyone is come back to finish anything. Especially not at night."

"That's true. Well I left the car on the side of the main road. Whose coming with me?" I question watching Carol wrap my ankle up.

"I am. Speaking of, I am going to go tell him about Carl and that we are getting ready to head out soon." I look up at Maggie and smirk.

"Ten minutes Mags, no time for a quickie." Carol laughs quietly at my tease and I laugh at the redness in Maggie's face.

"I can't stand you sometimes, you know that?" she jokes before walking toward the exit.

"Love you too." I yell after her as Carol and I continue to laugh.

"Ok, that should do it. Take these for pain and when you get back, grab one of the emergency kit ice packs to help with the swelling. I know you aren't going to rest it until later tonight but when you do…" I quickly cut her off with a laugh.

"Elevate it, ice it, and rest it. I know Momma Carol. Look after Carl for me, I left some cereal bars and a bottle of water with him."

"Will do. Lets go break up the two love birds." She helps me to my feet and we head out to the courtyard so Maggie and I can head back to the others. Tonight was going to be a long night.

 ** _*So sorry that is been forever. i have been super busy with getting ready for christmas and my son has been sick as well. i have the next chapter ready to go but i probably wont post it till after Christmas...might even do it on christmas, not sure yet. But after that one i am going to write the next several chapters and i plan to start posting every sunday when TWD starts back up. So it comes on at 9pm EST where i am in indiana (USA) so i will either upload at 8:30pm or at 10pm._** ** _Also, in this chapter there was more than likely errors like random paragraphs, but i did not edit it that way. everytime i save it, it would do it on its own. instead of fixing it eight more times, this is how it will be._** ** _Also, let me know how you felt about Carl and Lacey. will it put a wedge between them? What about how Rick will feel when he hears Lacey yelled at Carl?_** ** _Anyways, i hope everyone has a great holiday whether you celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, or whatever...happy holidays!!!!_**


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